#he's just up close and personal. IMMEDIATELY. intense right out the gate!

[qoldenskies]

What do you mean when you say Donnie is an extrovert?

OH i dont know if he's an extrovert, he just acts extroverted like all of them do. he's definitely the quietest of the four, and arguably the most independent (the other three flock together very closely, while a lot of donnie's episodes are about him and april, or him individually), but he expresses a lot of desire for companionship, appreciation, and attention.

the purple jacket is probably the best example of this tbh. he jumps for joy at the idea of meeting like-minded people, and he's the only one who has ever really expressed interest in school.

and his interest is social!! it's less about wanting to work and learn because he seems to already know everything, it comes from the urge to bond with people who are interested in intellectual topics like him. i'm thinking he kind of has a glamorized perspective of school because he's not in it, he'd probably find it upsetting if he was (the social aspect of it, at least).

he has no problem waltzing up to them and confidently inserting themselves into their conversation, and awkwardly trying to do so to their friend group. there's also things like him being so excited to talk to the librarian in mystic library; he's actually relatively outgoing.

i think the idea of him being this ultra-introverted social recluse who spends most of his time holed up in his lab is very much an invention of the fandom. leo hates public outings a lot more than donnie does. as long as he wants to be there and is interested in the topic, it's an environment he likes being in. i actually just see him as a very social creature burdened by having a very lonely job, especially because of how considerate his work is and how aggressively praise-motivated he is when he presents it. hell he even kept shelldon Like That even though he's probably around him while he works constantly.

he's probably an ambivert tbh

[vomitspit2]

"Moray eels are large predators and their jaw structure reflects this. Moray eels not only have sharp teeth that can be seen, but they have a double jaw and a double set of teeth." .........

And… have you seen his tongue?

Could you share your Jade thoughts regarding this? 🙏

-🔮anon (can i be 🔮 anon?)

trey is leagues behind me ... orin scrivello looks like a patsy next to me ... the opportunity to talk about the double set of jaws/teeth (๑òᗜó) thank you 🔮 anon, i've been waiting for this moment to be a freed freak!!!!

my immediate thought is bloody kisses because i'm weak for a bit of blood in the foreplay orz

perhaps ..... first tongue kiss with jade!!! you and him using tongue for the first time in a kiss, both of you a little apprehensive about finding that correct rhythm and perfecting the right technique ... both of you flushed in the face, nestled close and experimentally swiping and twisting your tongues together ... with the short length of your tongue's tip, you just happen to breach past and underneath jade's first set of teeth while kissing.

now the poor eel has never had anything in his mouth besides food ... it's only instinct ... that his double jaw slides out like some xenomorph and bites your tongue hard.

the gloved hands on the sides of your face urgently fall away when you yelp in pain. he blinks at you. you blink at him.

a mediocre puddle of your blood stains the front of your shirt. your mouth hangs open like an overheated dog's, a growing mass of slippery red waterfalls from your chin.

here comes the breakup, jade thinks in a moment of rare whirling panic. "My." he watches you pant, brows creased in obvious pain. "My apologies, i hadn't thought --"

whatever hesitance about technique or rhythm or something minor like that is gone from you as you are suddenly pushing your boyfriend down on ramshackle's creaky couch. he blinks at you. you blink at him.

jade blinks a second time because a dot of your blood has just landed on his upper lip like a drawn mole.

and before jade can ask a question - because he surely cannot comprehend the wicked, spiraling intensity in your eyes - or make another silly apology, you are putting two fingers in his agape mouth ... orz and pulling his jaw down to the point where he double-chins orz orz ... and you're just staring at the slight shadows and slight glints of his secondary teeth ( ⌬̀⌄⌬́ )

poor, unfortunate jade. wondering what's he gonna do after the break up and you'll like .... 'this is so hot and everything i've wanted' lmaooo

it resolves itself because you obviously keep kissing. even when he uses his handkerchief to wipe down all the blood that has gotten on your chin and apologizes, you remain on a blissful cloud nine.

i think jade would go out of his way to use his secondary jaws if he knew it arouses you so thoroughly. you want to see him kill live prey? you know, it's quite ungentlemanly to feast with an open mouth. well ... no show is without a fee so bring a good offer for such an exclusive sight.

OR; the first tongue kiss and jade underestimates how much longer and thicker his tongue is compared to yours. a tongue can only reach to about the gates of another person's teeth, there's not much length to get to the back of throat while kissing ... but not with jade!!!!

nope, you're going to find yourself very overwhelmed when what feels like a crawling snake is doing twists around your tongue, reaching to scrape at your uvula, each stroke of your tongue is reciprocated with double the intent from mr. jade leech.

very very polite jade who kisses like an insatiable slut orz.

[zafill]

Oh, hi!! this is my first time doing a request.

Could you do obanai × new fem hashira, he finds her intriguing because she's another person who has heterochromia. Her eyes are blue on the right and red on the left. Her breathing technique is smoke breathing. You could easily tell her breathing by the way her hair is grey, white and black.

But if you don't mind, the character grew up from a black market and Obanai learns that her motivation to keep going is that she does it out of spite from her abusers.

Idk what else to put and what I think I wrote is vague but yeah, have a nice day!!

weak? yeah right.

this is so sigma, trust (this is so short bro, dont get me wrong, i love the idea, but i just couldnt get myself to write more or go into detail </3)

-----

It was a quiet morning at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, the kind where the air felt thick with anticipation but nothing stirred on the surface. Obanai Iguro, the Serpent Hashira, was meditating by the courtyard, his eyes closed, the feeling of the cool breeze brushing against his skin.

But something—or rather, someone—disrupted the calm. He noticed her immediately.

She stood just outside the gates, her silver-white hair catching the sunlight, the streaks of grey and black giving her an ethereal, smoky appearance. She had her back to him, as if she was waiting for something, or perhaps someone. He could sense the air around her, thick with the faintest trace of smoke—a unique, subtle aroma. It reminded him of the dense fog that rolled in from the mountains during early mornings.

Her breathing.

It was so distinct, yet unfamiliar in a way that intrigued him. Obanai’s sharp eyes locked onto the back of her head, trying to process everything in an instant. She was not like the others. Her presence was strange, a mystery he was compelled to solve.

He noticed her eyes first—strikingly unusual, not just because of their color, but the way they seemed to carry a story in their depths. Her left eye was a dark crimson, glowing with a deep intensity, while the right one was an unsettling blue, as vivid as the summer sky. Heterochromia. Another one like him.

He didn’t know why, but he felt drawn to her, perhaps because of the resemblance between their eyes, or maybe it was the quiet yet powerful aura she emanated. It was a strange connection, something unspoken, but undeniably present.

The woman turned around, and for a split second, their eyes met—Obanai’s sharp, cold stare locking with hers. There was something unreadable in her expression, a mix of caution and curiosity.

Obanai took a step toward her, his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his sword.

“You’re the new Hashira, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice low but steady.

The woman nodded slightly, not speaking at first. She didn’t seem intimidated, nor did she offer a word of welcome. Instead, she tilted her head just a fraction, as if she was studying him, trying to read him as much as he was reading her.

“Yes,” she replied finally, her voice just as soft, but there was a sharpness to it, like the edge of a blade. “I’m the Smoke Hashira.”

Obanai couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Smoke breathing. He had never heard of such a technique. He was intrigued, more so than he’d care to admit. He could already see it in the way she stood, how her hair swayed as if it were drifting in the wind, an extension of the smoke that she commanded.

He studied her in silence for a moment, taking in her form, her stance. There was strength in her, but it was laced with something else—something raw.

“You’re... different,” he said, narrowing his eyes, his attention fixed on the intricate details of her being. "Your hair. The way you breathe. It’s all... strange."

She looked up at him then, her expression still unreadable. “I was always told that I was strange.”

He hesitated. There was something about her, something that both bothered and fascinated him. Her gaze flickered to the side, and for a brief moment, Obanai saw something else behind her eyes—something that lingered beneath her cool demeanor. He knew that look all too well: a sort of quiet defiance.

“Where did you come from?” Obanai asked, his tone shifting slightly. There was genuine curiosity now, the harshness in his voice replaced by something more human.

Her expression tightened, and her lips thinned into a tight line. She wasn’t willing to reveal much, but he could see the weight behind her words when she spoke again.

“A place where people like me don’t survive long.” She paused, looking away for a moment, as though the memories were too painful to relive. “I did, though. Not because of any skill or strength. I survived because of spite. Spite for the ones who thought they could break me. Spite for the ones who thought I was weak.”

Obanai’s eyes narrowed as he processed her words. Spite, huh? He understood that feeling. It was what had driven him all these years. The rage that burned inside of him, the need to prove himself against those who had written him off.

“So, you keep going,” Obanai said softly, his eyes never leaving hers, “because you want to prove them wrong.”

The woman looked at him for a long moment, a flicker of understanding passing between them. She nodded slowly. “Yes. And because the world is full of people like them. And they need to be reminded that they were wrong.”

Obanai’s expression softened slightly, though his posture remained tense. He understood her more than he wanted to admit. There was a darkness inside her, but it was one that had kept her going, had shaped her into the warrior standing before him now.

"You’re not alone in that," he said quietly, his voice softening ever so slightly. "I understand that feeling."

She studied him for a moment, her red and blue eyes flickering with something that might have been the beginning of understanding, or perhaps the start of something more.

For the first time, the distance between them seemed to shrink, and Obanai found himself feeling... intrigued. More than just by her breathing technique, or her unusual eyes. He was intrigued by her story, her resilience, her fire.

"Maybe we can help each other, then," he said, his voice steady again. “And maybe, just maybe, we’ll make them regret ever thinking we were weak.”

[manias-wordcount]

Reader is 23-26 (was in stasis like Faye) and she admits to Spike she never learned to drive and jokes she didn’t really care to learn because “you cant go fast” and “that ships are to advanced for her 1900’s brain”

So Spike teaches her how to fly and go fast

OR if ur currently bored writing for Spike; Link teaches Reader how to ride a horse (so he’s sitting behind her on the same horse)

—————

((I’ve requested another story before so feel free to disregard so another person has a chance! I feel bad for being greedy haha I love your writings ����💝 thanks for all your Link, and Spike fics and other characters esp the fluffy ones haha))

Take Flight (Spike Spiegel x Reader)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 (𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗵)

𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁: @dogsandrocketsocks @pittbull-enthusiast @asuperconfusedgirl @rendartgrimson @abellaheart-blog

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

You knew that anyone born after the Astral Gate isn’t was probably a little ill-informed about what life used to be like. 

  But you didn’t think you needed to explain in so many words to Spike that no, even though there were planes and rockets and things that flew through the air when you were alive, that didn’t mean you ever stepped foot in a cockpit before. His nose twisted up as you explained vague memories of taking trips on planes for an occasional vacation or visit to family. And Faye jumped in to talk about how different cars were back then too. Though she was able to brag about how she managed to get her license way before you did. That wasn’t very fun.

  But after a while, you realized he wasn’t listening to the two of you. You realized he just looking at you with that same intense expression he always has when he’s trying to take apart something and figure it out. Eyebrows furrowed. Lips just barely parted. Stare nice and hard. Until finally, finally, he spoke.

  “Wanna learn how to fly?”

  You remember Faye snickering as you stuttered over a timid “Sure.” But the next thing you were, you were being led outside and being asked what you knew about flying in general. He huffed when you told him that you knew particularly nothing, but he promised that it wouldn’t be an issue as he gave you his hand and helped you climb onto his ship. When you asked if there was any way you start by reading an instruction manual or maybe having your first flight in something that wasn’t built to be a racing ship, he just brushed you off. Told you that he’d be with you every step of the way. And that he’ll start out nice and slow, just for you. 

  It’s a really, really, really tight fit.

  That’s all you can think about when you settle into the cockpit of the Swordfish II with him. You realized that immediately as he brought you to his ship- even before he closed the hatch. There was barely enough room for the two of you. Just one seat, in fact. And the one seat made it so that your only option was to get all close and personal with him. As much as your rapidly beating heart would let you. 

  Which ended up being a lot more than you expected. You’re not complaining though. You’re far too busy being absolutely terrified about all the knobs and buttons and things in front of you right now. Especially the important-looking ones that Spike refuses to explain - even while you’re cruising in the empty air space a little ways away from Alba City. No matter how much you beg.

  “You remember how to hang left, yeah?” He asks you after a while, and you’re able to offer up a quiet nod once you’ve recalled exactly how to do so. Your bodies are pressed so close together that you can’t always trust your voice to say the things you want it to say. But you’ve been making progress so far. Surely you can survive another 30 minutes of Spike’s Flight School, right? “Good. Not too hard then. Just wanna do a loop.”

  Slowly, you fix your grip and follow his orders. He lets out a low whistle- one you can guess means approval- as the Swordfish makes a sharp but somewhat smooth left. So far, flying has been… good. He’s not the best teacher, but he’s been good to you. He keeps you calm and focused and pushes you to step out of your comfort zone. Although it’s a bit hard to make mistakes when it’s Spike’s feet pressing all the buttons and platforms below the two of you, he’s been good about letting you learn how to maneuver for yourself. He’s really only stepped in for a few quick fixes here and there. Including the time when you almost knicked the side of the right wing into oblivion right as you were taking off. 

  But in your defense, you thought you had the right away on the runway! How were you supposed to see that other guy’s ship? 

  “Like this?” You ask him after a while, trying to get a verbal confirmation of how you’re doing lately. “And then I press this thing here, rig-”

  “Stop worrying about that one,” He would tell you with another pat to the thigh as he’d try to redirect your attention elsewhere. He’d tell you to keep steering or to turn these thrusters on or flip this particular switch. You’d follow dutifully to his every word, eager to please (and not die). His voice would still have that nice and low sound that keeps you distracted. But this time, it’s right by your ear as he keeps you rooted to his lap with an arm slung lazily around your center. His other hand points and prodes at different buttons. Sometimes telling you what to do or change. Sometimes doing it for you as he brushes off your concerns. “Just keep her steady for now. You’re doing great, sweetheart.”

  You let out a gasp at the sound of his praise, a smile growing on your face. A small giggle slips out as well as you start to relax a little and feel happy that things have been going well lately. But all too quickly, you’re stopped by the feeling of Spike’s hands placing themselves so they’re gripping your waist in a tighter hold than expected. 

  “Just don’t…” His voice comes out a little strained as he slowly readjusts the way you’re sitting on his lap. You try to look back at him, for just a second. But he’s quick to redirect your attention to the window in front of you by telling you to pitch up. You nearly jump as you turn back to face the front, realizing the ship wasn’t facing the direction you left it in. Spike lets out a groan from beneath you, a sound that’s soft and low and a little too much for your heart to deal with at the moment. But he brushes off your apology with a wave of his hand a murmur that’s almost too soft for you to hear.  “...don’t move so much right now, okay sweetheart? It’s…distracting…”

  You swallow down another gasp at the implication and try to focus on flying.

  For the most part, the rest of the time goes well. Spike steps in once or twice to correct a few things here and there, but he’s more keen on watching you make wide circles and big loops in the sky than hyper-managing your action. Every once in a while he’ll share something with you. A compliment. A story. A cute pet name that you’re not even sure he realizes that he’s calling you. And you’ll share something back too. More stories from what you remember your life was like before stasis. Your thoughts on flying. On how beautiful and big the world is now that you’ve been given the power to explore it for yourself.

  Eventually, you run out of things to say. So does he. But there’s still fuel in the tank and light in the sky. He still has an arm around your center and his chest against your back. And he makes no mention of stopping. No mention of how to land. Of when to land. Or even where.

  So you keep on flying. And he keeps teaching you how to fly. And together?

  You soar.

[soireegurl]

heyyyy, can you do prompt eight and thirteen for riki and hoon ?

Thanks for requesting!!! Probably not what you expected but hope you'll like it!

"Ugh..." You groaned as you slowly opened your eyes.

It was dark...

But, you could still see the outline of the room.

This is definitely not your room.

You slowly sat up and held your head as it was hurting like hell.

"What the... I don't remember drinking... Or did I knock out again?"

You couldn't help but to think that you drank last night as you get really bad hang over after drinking.

There's no other way your head can hurt like this, right?

You got off the bed and tried to look for the switch.

You were walking aimlessly trying to find the switch until you finally touch something that feels similar.

"Ah hah... Found ya."

*tak!*

You turned on the switch and immediately closed your eyes due to the sudden change of light intensity.

You slowly got used to the bright light and took a look around the room.

This is not your room... Neither are any of your friends... So... What are you doing here?

You were confused but the most important thing now is to get out of here and find out whose house this is.

You went straight to the door. But before you opened it, someone beat you to it.

The door was opened from the outside.

What you saw next was a tall, young and masculine guy.

Not gonna lie, he's hot too.

"Uh... Hi? "

You started the conversation in the most awkward way possible.

"You're awake... How was you sleep?"

"Umm... It was pretty okay? I guess? But... Most importantly, who are you?where is this? And why am I here?"

You didn't forget that you are in some random person's house, and now seems to be this handsome looking man's house.

"You are in my house... Why are you here? You'll find out later. And about who I am, do you really not know me?"

You were confused by his words.

"Am I supposed to?"

After you said that, his facial expressions immediately dropped. But he quickly recovered and replied you.

"Hmm... I don't know... But we are from the same school... I thought.. you would have at least seen me somewhere somehow."

He sounded quite disappointed.

"I'm sorry... I uh... Don't really pay attention to others that much..."

He shrugged his shoulders and walked past you into the room.

"Of course you don't... Because all your attention is on that "lovely" boyfriend of yours isn't it..."

He sat down on the bed and looked at you straight into the eye.

You got taken aback by the strong gaze and immediately looked away.

"Maybe... I guess so.. haha..."

You awkwardly answered his question and started fidgeting.

"Urm... It's getting late, I should go. "

You turned around and got out of the room.

You don't know why, but you are not liking the vibe this guy is giving.

It feels... Dangerous...

And it makes you feel scared... For some reason, even though you have never seen him.

"I didn't say you could go."

You stopped in your tracks as those words left his mouth.

You turned around and gave him a questionable look

"I'm sorry what?"

"You are not leaving."

His voice was deep.

His eyes were dark.

As if satan lives in there.

"Urm, I am not listening to you... "

You just want to leave this place right now, this guy is not giving you any good vibes.

You quickly ran down stairs, towards the main gate.

You tried to open it, but unfortunately, it was locked.

There's no way you're opening this.

This is a fingerprint lock.

"Shit."

Now you finally realised what shit you got into.

"like I said, you are not leaving."

A voice appeared behind you. You turned around and saw that guy slowly walking down the stairs, his eyes never leaving you.

"Who are you? Are you locking me up in this house of yours?"

You are getting angry, ain't no way this guy just brought you here and now lock you up in this house.

"I'm just protecting you from this evil world."

He said as if this was normal.

"I don't need it, let me out! Or I'll call the police."

You said with full confidence but what he said next, slapped you in the face.

"Hahahaha... What are you gonna call with? Your bare hands?"

Right.

You have nothing with you right now.

In a split second he was already in front of you, eyes staring at you as if you are some kind of prey.

"Let's play a game Y/n.."

He said and let out an evil smile.

"I don't want to... Just let me out. "

"Aww... Why so mean." He said and let out a little pout.

But well, you have no choice but to accept this. You know? I have 100 and 101 ways to make you listen. "

His smile dropped in a split second which definitely scared you.

"What do you want."

"First game... Simon says. Let me start."

"Simon says... Break up with your boyfriend. You know that Park Sunghoon."

"What? Excuse me? I'm not doing that ."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. So now let me out! Stop this weird shit."

"Remember you asked me who I was?"

He took a few steps back and asked.

"Yes? But now I don't need to know. I just want to get out of here. "

He laughed a bit and started walking around the living room.

"Well, I'm gonna tell you... I think it'll be better if you know. "

"My name is Nishimura Riki... They know me as Niki... I'm one year younger than you. "

"Oh... Most importantly, I am the son of Nishimura Yuji."

Nishimura Yuji...

That sounds familiar.

Wait... Now it rings a bell.

"You... You are the son of the biggest mafia boss?"

You were shocked, but mostly scared. You have heard many stories about the Nishimura family... And none of them is good.

Niki smirked at your reaction.

"So Y/n... Do you want to play the game with me?"

" Or should we do it in a simpler way?"

"Break up with him, or I'll help you."

[dez78]

🌹🗡️We're in this together🗡️🌹

------------------------------------

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Pairings: Tav'riel x Slyus (OC x OC)

Warnings: Angst, blood, death, hurt to comfort

Summary: Tav'riel has a rude awakening with his urges.

Notes: Tav'riel belongs to @bxdw0lf VP is by him as well.

Tav'riel's head pounded, war drums of blood thrummed in his ears. He tossed and turned, sweat forming on his brow. He opened his eyes slowly, he looked over at Slyus in reverie next to him. His features completely relaxed, he was comfortable. He was serene in his peaceful state.

Tav'riel got out of his bedroll, he watched Slyus's movements as he himself, moved like a shadow. He grabbed his dagger from his pack. Slyus still mediated, unaware of the danger about to unfold.

Tav'riel moved silently onto Slyus's lap. The bard awoke with a smile, he grabbed the paladin's hips.

"Looking for a little fun?" He teased with a smile, though it faltered when he saw Tav'riel's face.

"Hey, you okay? What-" Slyus's comment was cut short when Tav'riel plunged his dagger deep into Slyus's heart, the bard let out a strangled cry, more from shock then pain.

He looked up, his eyes immediately welling with tears, his youthful features showing an emotion like that of betrayal. Tav'riel twisted his knife deep with a wicked smile, Slyus growled from the intense pain. The paladin ripped his knife out of the bard's chest, then drove it into his sternum. Over and over again, then moved to his stomach doing it again.

Slyus's screams were raw and full of pain, not just from physical pain of being stabbed so brutally, but from utter heartbreak, that the one person he loved most has betrayed him.

When the paladin came out of his blinded state, he realized what he had done. He dropped his dagger, looking at the horrible scene he has created yet again, but not with just any random bard, his bard.

Tav'riel let out a hard sob as he fell into Slyus, crying into him. He held his face, his bloody hands smeared stains onto Slyus's face. Tav'riel wailed loudly as he ran his hands through the bard's white hair, turning it crimson.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The paladin chanted as he shook violently while looking at his work, which sickened him. He couldn't even look at what he had done to his beautiful bard.

Tav'riel shot up in his bedroll with a horrific cry, he was drenched in sweat, he looked around his dark tent frantically. His eyes landed on Slyus, Tav'riel got out of his bedroll and went over, he looked Slyus over with a frantic urgency.

The vampire stirred upon feeling a weight on him, he fluttered his eyes open and smiled.

"Dirty dream?" He teased playfully, Tav'riel's eyes shot up meeting his, the bard blinked as his smile faltered.

"Hey, you okay?" He questioned as he sat up. The paladin crashed into him, hugging him tightly.

"Oh thank the gods, you're alive!" He wailed, his tears sprung to his eyes as he clawed at Slyus, attempting to bury himself into him.

"Well yes, alive as I can be as a vampire." Slyus joked, Tav'riel clung to him desperately as he started to sob, the bard dropped his joking act and turned serious now.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked as he smoothed his hand down Tav'riel's back, the paladin didn't answer right away, his fingers dug into Slyus's shoulders.

"My love? Tav'riel, talk to me." He said, he was worried sick. He knew Tav'riel never talked about his struggles. Slyus leaned back, he grabbed Tav'riel's face.

"Tell me what's wrong. Tell me, don't let it build up!" He said to him, forcing him to finally speak.

"I had a nightmare or a vision. I-I killed you during one of my urges!" Tav'riel sobbed as he buried his face back into Slyus's shoulder, he soaked the fabric of the bard's shirt.

"It was horrific, the things I did to you! Please, Slyus, please help me. I don't want to kill you!" Tav'riel begged as he hiccupped, the bard's ruby eyes filled with tears as he held his lover close.

"Tav, no matter what comes our way. We will face it together, I promise. Whatever this urge is, we'll get it under control together, okay?" Slyus explained as he rubbed Tav'riel's back in reassurance.

He grabbed the paladin's face again and forced him to look at him, their eyes met, both of them were crying.

"I promise." Slyus whispered, Tav'riel nodded in his hands. The bard wiped his lover's tears away with the pads of his thumbs, looking at his lips briefly before looking back up into his eyes.

"What if I-" Tav'riel began, but Slyus interrupted him with a soft tone,

"You won't, my love."

He looked up at him still, Tav'riel finally relaxed his tense muscles, going limp in Slyus's lap. The bard cupped the paladin's face, holding him gently, he leaned up and brushed his lips against his.

Tav'riel reciprocated, giving Slyus access to his mouth. Though the kiss wasn't intense, or heated with passion. It was tender, full of devotion and unspoken promises.

[onblondes]

I've put up some fics about my Tav, Evie, and it turns out I have a ton to say about her! So if you're curious about her as a character then this might interest you!

As far as her background, Evie is from a Kennedy/Rockefeller-type family of sorcerers in Baldur’s Gate. She’s the youngest of three sisters meaning she has a lot of privilege and money but basically no responsibility. No one is looking to her to maintain the family name and barring a catastrophic incident, she will never be its figurehead. She is not Prince William - Evie is one of the ones you see at a royal wedding with a big hat and you’re like, “Oh, isn’t she one of them? Stevie, I think?”

I don’t think this makes Evie a cruel person. She’s just young, directionless, and doesn’t like to get dirty. This start doesn’t preclude her from becoming the leader of the group but she does have to work on it. Imbuing her life with adventure and purpose will really help her flourish. Even after her heel-face turn, Evie will still cut people down for hurting her friends and probably tell them their outfit looks like shit.

How she interacts with each companion is under the cut. I got really into it, as you’ll see.

Astarion: Even with the “dagger to your throat” introduction, Evie and Astarion click immediately. She isn’t as intense about it as Astarion but she does tend to agree that the way the party stops for every bird with a bent wing is a little nuts, right? They are always having fun together even if it’s sometimes a little mean. Evie sees through Astarion’s seduction attempt immediately and thinks that gives her the upper hand but there is no upper hand in a healthy relationship, which she doesn’t realize until she’s already stuck to him for good. She falls into that classic fake dating spiral of “my beloved was just pretending to like me so I can’t possibly reveal that I actually love them,” and she tries to bury herself in all of her new responsibilities.

Once they figure things out, they stay together because they grow side by side and the ways that they support and shape each other will bond them forever. Evie will always look to Astarion to celebrate an accomplishment. Astarion will grumble vaguely about her “being so heroic, ugh,” even while he’s following all of her kind-hearted plans and kissing the crown of her head. Can two vain blondes with bad attitudes make each other better? Yes, I like to think so.

Shadowheart: Evie kind of rubs everyone the wrong way at the beginning of their journey but she scraps the most with Shadowheart. Part of this is just about Evie’s personality when they meet. She’ll really only help after some cajoling and has no tact. Another aspect is that Shadowheart kind of resents Evie for having a secure upbringing where people gave her everything she wanted and loved and protected her. Shadowheart is not in the business of coddling a frivolous noble, and while Evie deserves to have more asked of her, Shadowheart does sometimes border on needling her.

They would be very cute though once Evie has a purpose and bothers to start using her 20 charisma on her friends. Evie will loudly clock every time that Shadowheart is nice to her and Shadowheart will only really play at protesting when Evie hugs her and presses their cheeks together. They both develop big fat crushes but there’s a little too much Astarion in the mix for Shadowheart and Evie to get to that next level of romantic intimacy, even when they’re both free to date. I also don’t think their post-Illithid cure plans would really align, preventing them from being good long-term romantic partners. It wouldn’t damage their bond though and they would stay very close no matter how tangled up their feelings ever became.

Gale: Evie and Gale also clash but not in a “maybe I’d kiss you if you were less annoying” way. Just a standard, by the book, “I don’t really get you” way. They’re both stubborn when they think they’re right and have that natural sorcerer vs. wizard rivalry. Evie probably pushes a little too hard on this rivalry at first and then doesn’t get why Gale is annoyed about it. But Gale never forgets that Evie wanted to keep him around even after learning about his condition. They’re both witty and like doing over the top magic stunts, they can’t stay mad at each other for long. When they aren’t fighting for their lives every day, they’re able to bond over their shared love of fine foods.  

Romance wise, I don’t think they’d click. It would not even occur to them to try dating. Evie had ONE really intense sex dream about Gale and spent about a week dropping things whenever he talked to her and avoiding all eye contact. Gale figured she was just really sick of him.

Karlach: Karlach tries to be the most understanding with Evie while she’s figuring out how to be on her own and play nice with others. She’s not afraid to call Evie out but she does it with a lot of love and doesn’t try to make it a big argument. Evie tries to push back but Karlach is so good to her that she crumbles almost immediately and just wants them to stay friends. Karlach calls Evie “kid” a lot and at first Evie hates it. Then one day Karlach tenderly says, “I’m proud of you, kid,” and Evie cries.

Since their relationship is the most similar to an older sibling and her twerp kid sister, I don’t see Karlach and Evie being romantically interested in each other. Once Karlach is cooled off and trying to find love again, Evie is going to want to gossip about every detail of her dates afterwards.

Wyll: I keep thinking there would be a high probability that Evie and Wyll have met before. They probably met at some high society party when they were teenagers and Wyll wrote Evie off as a typical Baulder’s Gate rich kid. He would be pretty shocked to find her in the druid grove but not shocked to see her starting to take charge. Wyll tends to see the best in people and he’ll tell Evie that he always knew she was capable of anything she wanted and that he’s proud of the path she’s taking. He’s definitely not above a little bit of gossip about nobles they both know.

Wyll might be a little too princely for Evie to seriously consider dating. I mean, she’s interested in Astarion and Shadowheart for Christ's sake, she’d probably be worried that asking Wyll out would ruin his life. Evie wants to stay with someone for the long haul but probably not be married right away and settle into domestic bliss. There’s a tiny part of her that wonders what life would be like if they had both just stayed in Baulder’s Gate, if anything could have happened between them. Evie also wonders what it means that she still thinks Wyll is handsome after his transformation.

Lae’zel: Lae’zel will be annoyed if she feels Evie isn’t pulling her weight but she absolutely doesn’t care about any personal abrasiveness. She’s not exactly about to back down from a fight either and expects the same from her companions. Lae’zel is also a soldier and doesn’t mind that Evie kind of wants to be the boss and sometimes tells her no. As long as Evie is standing her ground, Lae’zel can respect her resolve. She will insist that Evie learn a little more physical combat from her if she’s supposed to be their de facto leader. Lae’zel doesn’t go easy on her but it toughens Evie up in a way no one else can.

Romantically, Evie would be a non-starter for Lae’zel. She does not have time for this 25 year old goofball making googly eyes at a vampire and making out with her goth bestie. If Lae’zel isn’t at the top of Evie’s list, then she doesn’t even want to be on it. 

Halsin: I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of in-game time with Evie and Halsin yet so my thoughts are still cooking but I think they’d have an interesting dynamic. Halsin never meets Evie when she’s at her worst. He only sees her taking her first tentative steps into adventure, rescuing him from a prison cell and mowing down goblins to save the innocent. I think Evie would have this tiny crisis where she’s like, “What if he only thinks he likes me but he doesn’t really know me? What if I disappoint him when he realizes I’m terrible?” But Halsin is much older and wiser and he’d try to impart on Evie that the “old you” isn’t a distinct different person that you have to be ashamed of or kill. She’s just changing and Halsin appreciates Evie on any part of her journey.

Romantically, I’m honestly not sure yet. I kind of take Astarion at his word that he doesn’t mind his partner wanting to explore some avenues with other people. And I think it would be a little heady and exciting for Evie that someone sees her as competent and heroic. I wonder if their interests might be too different to translate into romantic compatibility. It’s unclear to me.

[nether-twins]

Oh geeze. Oh lord. Oh Orvus. Oh fu- ok, maybe taunting him hadn't been the best idea, because now he appeared to be flying even faster than earlier! Vendra could see the distance slowly closing between them when she dared to take a glance over her shoulder. If the robot managed to take a hold of her, get just within reach to touch her, then he would no doubt tear her to pieces and smash the holo-pad that had the video from Galactic Idol saved on it. She HAD to reach the junkyard - her brother - before that happened.

So, although absolutely terrified for her life, the small Nether looked ahead of her and mumbled "come on, come on... it should just be around the corner" before the sparks around her body suddenly grew more intense, crackling loudly as they shot out in all directions around her, and she took a sharp turn to the right. Her forme now nothing but a pink blur as she flew straight right towards a place she never thought she would be genuinely happy to see, or smell for the matter, again: the junkyard. Though absolutely disgusting and crawling with all kinds of nasty creatures, she now saw it as a sort of heaven for once in her life. A place she knew she would be safe. It was so, so close, and she could see a familiar form of someone moving around in it through the open gate ahead. And she only knew of one thing to shout out at the very top of her lungs once she found herself close enough to it...

"NEF!" The person immediately stopped whatever they were doing after clearly hearing her, making it all the more obvious that it was indeed her brother. Neftin had just been about ready get up and leave before he heard his sister call out for him. It wasn't unusual of her to come by at random from time to time without calling him forst, mind you, but it was out of the ordinary for him to see her with a look of absolute terror on her face. Also, after taking notice of the way she was flying, it almost seemed like she was trying to get away from something, or perhaps someone.

"Vendra? Why, um, are you-?"

"No talking! Just help me hide!" Nefarious had been hot on her heels last time she checked, so talking was out of the question for now. Instead, Vendra would just fly right around her puzzled brother and hide behind him as soon as she was given the opportunity to do so. Honestly, she felt ready to pass out right on the spot, but she knew better to do that. She had to see - or maybe hear in this case - what would happen once Nefarious reached them.

Ah, so it finally happened. She finally made Nefarious snap after pulling countless pranks on him. She cetrainly knew it would be possible for it to happen, but after this long? Well, better later than never she supposed. Buuuut he was now using the rocked in his boots propel himself straight towards her so , yeah, not so great. Time to put her wings and powers to good use!

"Oh shi-!" Realizing the mistake she had made, Vendra wasted no time to fly off in the opposite direction, her form sparkling with raw Nether energy as she used it to make herself fly faster, to try and get away from the mad robot. She didn't have enough energy left in her to fight Nefarios, BUT she could lead him right to her brother if she played her cards right. It was Neftin's turn to go out and search for items that could be used for their tech in the junkyard, so she knew exactly where she needed to fly.

However, she couldn't help but to be a little petty by flying. The small Nether raised the pad and began waving it around in a playful manner while shouting back, "Oh? You mean this little thing? The thing I used to find the video? The thing I now have the video saved on for all eternity? Well..." She chuckled lightly as she pulled it back now, hugging it tightly against her chest with both arms so as to not lose it while flying. "If you want it then you have to come and get it yourself, doc~"

[daryl-dixon-daydreams]

Words: 5,111 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: The Whisperers Warnings: violence, gore, mentions of blood, language, fear and anxiety A/N: The patron and requester for this fic is the lovely goddess @burritoplant! Thank her for the existence of this miniseries, because without her support it wouldn't have happened! A/N: This is part 1 of a new miniseries! AHHH! 

Your name: submit What is this?

Someone came banging into the house and Michonne was immediately on guard, rushing toward the front door to find an out of breath Rosita in the front entryway.

Michonne’s brown furrowed and her expression was intense. “What is it?”

Rosita shook her head, a little at a loss. “Daryl just came through the front gate…”

An expression of understanding grew on Michonne’s face and her eyes closed for a moment. Her head dropped and she raised a hand to swipe a hand across her forehead anxiously before she regained her composure. “Alright. I’ll go talk to him. Can you just watch the kids?”

“Are you sure? I can go—or maybe Aaron?”

“It’s alright. I’ll go. I’ve known him longer.”

Rosita nodded. “Too bad Carol isn’t here,” she mused.

Michonne sighed. “Yeah. Where was he headed?”

“Home,” she replied.

“Okay. The kids are in the kitchen. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Michonne jogged down the steps and turned to head toward the apartment building down the block. She felt jittery with nerves. She wished she didn’t have to be the one to explain—it felt like she was inserting herself right into Daryl’s personal shit and that was making her supremely uncomfortable. But someone had to talk to him.

The door to his apartment was standing partially open when she arrived, and Michonne raised a fist and knocked lightly on it. She could hear some movement inside but no one answered so she nudged the door open a little. “Daryl?”

“In here,” came a gruff drawl from farther inside. “C’mon in.” His voice was softer and distracted this time.

Michonne stepped inside and headed toward the sound of his voice to find Daryl standing in the doorway, his hand gripping the wood frame, staring into the bedroom. Over his shoulder, Michonne could see that half the closet was standing empty and there was empty space around the room that had previously held now missing belongings. She felt a constriction into her throat. “Welcome back,” she said gently.

Daryl turned and faced her, his blue eyes narrowed beneath a furrowed brow. He didn’t say anything and Michonne could read a question on his face. She tilted her head back toward the main room and Daryl’s bootsteps followed her out. He sunk down on the edge of a chair, looking unsettled.

Michonne sat opposite him and clasped her hands together. “Any luck out there?”

“Mm,” Daryl hummed, shaking his head. “Sorry.” A tense silence fell. “Where’s Y/N?” he drawled. She thought she heard nerves in his voice.

Michonne gulped. “She—isn’t here.” Daryl continued to stare at her. “You haven’t seen her?”

His brow furrowed more deeply, casting his eyes into shadow. “Was I s’posed to?”

Michonne shifted uneasily and shook her head. “I don’t know. She left. Left Alexandria.”

There was another beat of tense silence and some confusion flashed across his features. “For how long?” Daryl could see the empty spaces in the room you’d shared in his mind’s eye. They’d been glaring as soon as he hit the threshold.

“I’m not sure. She left some things behind. At my place. Asked me to hang onto them. For a while after she left, we’d hear from her every now and then.”

Daryl chewed on his bottom lip anxiously. “And now?”

Michonne shook her head and felt a small wave of emotion rise up in her chest. “We haven’t heard anything in a while.”

“What’s a while?”

“Around seven months,” Michonne replied.

Daryl stood up suddenly and turned his back to Michonne, pacing over to the window and staring straight out into the gray morning beyond the glass. “And nobody thought they should come tell me that?” There was an undercurrent of anger in his tone.

Michonne sighed. “She asked us not to…” This was perhaps the hardest thing to say yet. She thought she saw Daryl flinch at the window, like her words had stung.

Daryl ducked his head and squeezed his eyes shut. After a moment he turned back to face Michonne again. “Alrigh’.”

“I thought she might go see you,” Michonne said. There was a question in the statement and Daryl anxiously pulled his bottom lip back in between his teeth and chewed it.

“She did. For a while while I was out there. Once a month at least but—” He shook his head and ducked his eyes again. “After a while she didn’t anymore.”

Michonne felt her heart sink. “Daryl…” She didn’t know what to say. “I’m—”

“I’ll come up and see the kids in a bit. I just gotta get settled,” he interrupted.

Michonne took the hint and climbed to her feet. “Okay. They’ll be excited to see you. Take your time. We’ll be around, okay?”

He nodded, still unable or unwilling to meet her eyes. Michonne headed for the door but turned back at the doorway to glance at the archer. He looked worn, tired. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. Then she turned and left, closing the door quietly behind her. As soon as Michonne left, Daryl collapsed into a chair, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his face. Gone. You were just… gone. Vanished. Along with what seemed like any trace of you. For all he knew you could be a ghost, a dream instead of a memory. He stared at the coffee table in front of him. It was coated with a layer of dust which obscured the place where your novel used to sit.

Seven months. Michonne had said seven months… Where were you? What the hell were you doing? What if you were—no. He couldn’t think like that. Why the fuck hadn’t he come back sooner? He’d meant to. He really had. But being in the walls felt like a lie, like he was playacting. After Rick… how could he look everyone in the face if he hadn’t done everything possible to try and find him?

You’d asked him to come back. Not permanently, but more often than he had been. Then after a while you just stopped asking. And then, at some point, you’d just stopped finding him out there. He thought maybe it was for the best. In the same way that he found being in the walls painful, you seemed to find combing the riverbanks unbearable. And eventually you couldn’t do it anymore. That’s what he’d assumed. He’d assumed that you were safe back here in Alexandria, making yourself useful, keeping everyone moving forward. You were good at that.

But coming back to this empty apartment, this news that you had vanished, it was a punch in the gut.

* * *

Daryl stared at the way the slowly shifting light from the windows was illuminating your bare back. The shadows deepened in the lower bend of your spine and joined with the swirls of fabric around your hips. Golden light caught the edges of your shoulder blades and spilled onto the graceful curve of your arm before it dipped beneath the pillow. He tried to resist as long as he could, but eventually he had to run his hands over your silky skin and you stirred beneath the roughness of his palms and fingertips.

You turned over to look up at him with a sleepy smile, hair tousled and messy and he drank in the sight of you deeply, a sustaining draught.

“Hi,” you whispered, stretching and sighing a little before eagerly moving in closer to him, pressing yourself up against his warmth.

“Hey,” he drawled, his voice gravelly with sleep still. He smoothed a hand over your hair and you sighed.

“Did you sleep?”

“Mhm. A bit.” He could have slept more, but when he woke up and saw how you were illuminated with the haze of sunlight glowing through the curtains it was too good to miss, and he simply wanted to watch the day begin over your peaceful form.

“Good,” you said softly. You traced a finger along a scar across his chest before pressing your lips softly to it and settling against him more heavily.

Daryl’s heart jumped and he tightened his arms around you. “I gotta tell ya somethin’,” he drawled.

“Hmm?” You met his blue eyes.

“I’m—I’m in love with ya,” he managed. You’d simply held his eyes for a moment and then a wide smile grew on your face and the next second you pulled him in and crashed your lips together. He felt like he’d been set ablaze.

* * *

Knock knock knock.

Daryl shot upright in bed, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. He tried to gain control of his breath again.

Knock knock knock. Loud on the apartment door.

“Jus’ a sec,” he called out, rubbing a hand over his face. He climbed blearily to his feet, trying to shake off that dream. Dream? Memory. Whatever. He rushed through the apartment to the front door to find Michonne there with Judith and RJ.

“Uncle Daryl!” Judith launched herself at him and he dropped down to one knee to accept her hug. A moment later RJ collided against him too and he let out a deep laugh, squeezing them extra tight.

“You said you would come visit,” Michonne said. “They were too excited to wait any longer.” In truth, she’d also wanted to check on him after the worse than bad news the previous day.

“Sorry. I fell asleep,” he drawled. “Lemme look at you two.” He held Judith and her brother at arm’s length and smiled at them. It crinkled the corners of his blue eyes and Michonne felt some sense of relief at the sight.

“We missed you a whole lot,” Judith asserted.

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and ruffled RJ’s curly hair. “I missed ya too. Thought ‘bout ya ev’ry day.” Daryl stood up and caught Michonne’s eyes giving her a nod.

“Are you gonna stay and help with the new part of the wall, Uncle Daryl? Mom said I can help watch for walkers.”

Daryl pushed a hand back through his hair. “Ya must be pretty good with that sword now if yer mom is lettin’ ya do that.” Judith nodded eagerly.

“We’d appreciate the help,” Michonne said pointedly.

He chewed his lip anxiously. “I… I can’t. I gotta—head back out tomorrow,” he drawled.

“Tomorrow?” RJ asked, markedly disappointed. “But you just got here!”

Daryl glanced down at him. “I know. M’sorry, little man. But I got work to do back out there. Ya understand, right?” Judith’s posture had slumped too. “But I really do think of ya ev’ry day. And ya know what? I could really use some new pictures to put up in my tent. Think ya could make me some?”

RJ nodded and grinned at him but Judith was peering up at him inquisitively. “Are you going to search for Aunt Y/N and Daddy now too?”

Michonne gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Judith, we talked about this—”

“S’alrigh’,” Daryl stopped her. He met Judith’s eyes and struggled to find the right thing to say. “M’sure Aunt Y/N is fine, alrigh’? She—she chose to head out there. Not like yer dad. But ya know I’ll be keepin’ an eye out for her.”

Judith nodded. “If you see her, tell her to come back and visit. We miss her.” Her big brown eyes were almost enough to crack Daryl’s stoic exterior.

“I know. I’ll tell her,” he drawled. “Now why don’t ya go home and work on those pictures for me? I’ll come by in a bit.” He gave Michonne a nod and watched her gently nudge the kids back to the exit. Later that day, after visiting at the house, Michonne found Daryl out on the porch smoking a cigarette and staring out at the activity on the street. She sighed and leaned back against the railing beside him, drawing his blue eyes. “You really are leaving tomorrow?” she asked.

Daryl blew out a cloud of smoke and tapped the ash from the cigarette. He nodded, avoiding her gaze now. “I can’t be here,” he said. “I just can’t.” Now more than ever, he thought.

Michonne nodded. “I understand. But we really miss you.” She stood and gave him a friendly squeeze on the arm before heading back inside.

Several Years Later

Daryl had barely gotten off his bike before he could sense that something was wrong. He broke from his hug with Aaron and took in the worried expression on his face. “S’goin’ on?”

Aaron explained that they’d found Rosita out in the woods the previous day, a little hurt but mainly exhausted and dehydrated. They’d gotten her back to Hilltop and she was going to be fine, but Eugene was still missing.

“We could really use a good tracker,” Jesus said seriously.

Daryl nodded. “Sure. O’ course.” He was just glancing back at Carol and Henry, who were both standing nearby and looking grim, when he heard a familiar voice in the distance. Tara was heading hurriedly down the hill, calling for Jesus, and he went to meet her.

Daryl looked back at Carol. “This alrigh’? Me headin’ out?” Carol had asked him to look out for Henry while he came to apprentice as a blacksmith at the Hilltop, be a grounded role model. It was a job he’d accepted somewhat begrudgingly, but had already started to grow on him.

Carol nodded. “Of course. Go. Find Eugene. It sounds serious.”

He nodded and glanced back at Tara and Jesus who seemed to be having some tense and animated discussion. He started over and caught a few words.

“That’s what I’m telling you. Y/N left this yesterday at the drop-off. Look at the date,” Tara said, holding out a piece of paper to Jesus. “Read it.”

Daryl felt like he’d been punched in the stomach and came to a dead stop. “Whoa, whoa… What the hell did ya just say?” Tara glanced up and for the first time realized he was there.

“Daryl!” She rushed to him grabbed him into a hug as Jesus scrutinized the letter she’d passed to him. “God, it’s good to see you,” she said earnestly. There were worry lines between her brows.

“Ya. Ya, you too.” He shifted uneasily and cleared his throat anxiously. Carol stepped closer, watching him carefully. “What’d ya—uhh, did ya just say tha’s a letter from Y/N?”

Tara looked tense, but she nodded. Daryl felt Jesus’s eyes on him too.

“She, uhh—” he rubbed a hand over his mouth. “She come by here?”

Tara ducked her eyes to the ground. “Not exactly.”

Daryl shifted, his heart pounding. Beside him, Dog whined, and he absently patted him and told him to stay. “What’s that mean?”

Jesus came to stand beside Tara and absently folded the letter in his hands. “We have a drop-off location not that far away.” He seemed on the edge of saying more but hesitated and met Carol’s eyes over Daryl’s shoulder. The archer immediately spun to look at her, an accusatory look on his face.

“Ya know ‘bout this?” Daryl asked, his voice sounding extra gruff and heavy with gravel.

Carol shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t know what to tell you,” Carol said. The muscle in Daryl’s jaw tensed as he clenched his teeth. “A couple years after she left Alexandria, we started getting messages from her at The Kingdom. Not long after that, Hilltop started getting them too, and later, Oceanside and Alexandria. She became sort of an unofficial watchdog for the communities,” Carol explained quietly.

Tara interjected. “She keeps us up to date on what she’s seeing on her travels. Lets us know if there’s anything to worry about.”

Carol stared at her friend’s expression and tried desperately to read it. “I didn’t—I didn’t know what to say.” Carol lowered her voice and stepped closer to Daryl. “And I figured if she wanted to—to connect with you, she’d be able to find you. Daryl, you’ve been out there all this time, searching. I really thought sooner or later the two of you—”

“I thought she was dead,” he growled at Carol in an undertone. A shadow seemed to veil his bright blue eyes. “Ya think ‘bout that? Not hearin’ a damn thing fer all these years. I thought she was fuckin’ dead. What the hell was I s’posed to think?” he snapped. He withdrew from Carol a little angrily and turned back to face Tara and Jesus. Henry looked on confused and went to gently grip Carol’s arm and give her a sympathetic but confused look. She gave him a tight smile so he wouldn’t worry.

“Ya’ve seen her?” Daryl pressed Tara. “Ya picked up this letter from her?” How is she? he wanted to ask.

Tara shook her head. “We haven’t met in person in a long time. She’s always moving. We have a designated spot where she drops off any information she thinks we should have. Sometimes we leave a few supplies for her, but she usually doesn’t take them. We just check the drop-off regularly. It’s on the route of one of our patrols.”

Daryl shifted. “How often she come around?” He was trying hard to keep his breathing and heart rate under control, but they seemed like they had their own ideas.

This time Jesus answered. “It’s not regular. Sometimes every couple weeks, but more often than not we can go well over a month without hearing anything.”

Daryl came suddenly back into himself and realized there was some other pressing shit on the table; Eugene. And based on the grim expression on Jesus’s face, obviously there was something in your letter that was important. He stepped back, his hand clenching and unclenching along his side and nudged his nose up a couple times in a nod, his eyes fixing on the grass under his boots. “So, what’d she say?” he asked. He was still whirling, but there was something urgent on that damn piece of paper, the way Tara had come barreling down the hill toward them.

Tara and Jesus exchanged a glance and he sighed. “I don’t know what to make of it. She’s been seeing walkers in the area that are behaving… strangely,” he said.

Daryl’s eyes narrowed. “Strange how?” he drawled.

“Whole herds moving in circles out in the middle of a field, just swirling, stationary. Changing direction unexpectedly. Ignoring noises or lights that would normally draw them.” Jesus shook his head and held the letter out to Daryl. “Here, read it for yourself.” By now, Aaron, Carol, and Henry had gathered around and were listening closely too.

Daryl gulped and then his fingers closed on the worn piece of paper. Glancing down he saw your familiar scrawling script. He could almost hear your voice in his head and he hurriedly read it. When he’d gotten through the main body of the report, he thrust it back out toward Tara as if he’d been burned. She accepted it with a sideways glance.

“I don’t know what this is, but if we’re going out to look for Eugene, we need to have our guard up,” Tara said.

Jesus nodded. “Yeah. The only thing we usually have going for us with the dead is that they’re fairly predictable. This is… something else.”

Daryl nodded. He was struggling to compartmentalize what was happening, but he pushed his personal bullshit down as best he could and nodded. “Alrigh’. We’ll play it extra safe. But we need to cover some ground before it’s dark. We can follow Rosita’s trail back to Eugene if we can pick it up.”

“Daryl—” Carol stepped forward and matched his stride back over to his bike. “Daryl—”

“Not now,” he growled, slinging his bow over his shoulder. “Dog! Let’s go!”

“Be careful!” Carol called after him. He glanced back over his shoulder at her and headed for the gate.

Henry stepped up beside her again. “Mom? Who’s Y/N?” he asked.

She sighed and patted his shoulder. “Let’s just go get you settled, okay?”

_ _ _ _ _ _

Eugene was back, but the rescue mission had been a disaster.

Jesus was dead. And Daryl was staring down at a mask made of skin.

The warnings in your letter had turned out to be all too necessary. The reason the dead weren’t behaving like the dead was because the living were hidden among them. Daryl had seen the results with his own eyes.

And Jesus had paid the price for you all to find that out.

The living, concealed in freakish skin masks could control hordes, turn herds, and travel among them. And Daryl couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that you were out there. You’d been at the Hilltop’s drop-off location the day before. And based on your letter, you didn’t know what was happening yet.

He stood up abruptly and headed to find Tara. She was overseeing the preparations to lay Jesus to rest. The entire community was mourning, and when word reached them the other communities would be too. “Hey,” he drawled when he reached Tara. “Can I borrow ya for a sec?”

Tara nodded and stepped away. Daryl could see the weight that was now lying heavily on her shoulders. She would be the one to keep things going here at the Hilltop now. “I’m goin’ back out there,” Daryl said.

Tara’s eyes narrowed. “What? After what just happened—Daryl—” She sighed and glassy tears filled her eyes before she was able to blink them away. “Jesus isn’t even buried yet. What reason could you possibly—”

He ducked his head. “Ya said she dropped that note off yesterday. If she’s still in the area, she’s out there with them and she dunno. And I dun think that girl Lydia is tellin’ us the truth yet. I think there’s more of them. Maybe a lot more.”

Tara closed her eyes as understanding washed over her. Of course it was about you. “Daryl—she can move fast if she needs to. She’s probably on her way to another community already to give them the same warning. Even if you can track her, she’s a day ahead of you.”

He shifted and bit his bottom lip. “I gotta try. I gotta at least go check the trail and see what’s what. If it’s cold already, I’ll come righ’ back.”

Tara gave him a long look and finally nodded. She knew better than to try to change Daryl’s mind once it was made up. “Alright. I’ll put Enid and someone else on guard for the girl. We’ll keep listening in, but honestly without you here I don’t know how much this is gonna move. Just be careful. We’ve already lost too much to these… monsters. And we could really use your help here.”

Daryl nodded. “Where’s the drop-off?”

Not long after that, Daryl was on his way with Dog. They were staying away from roads and trails, keeping to the woods. It was slow going but he thought it was less likely that he’d encounter a huge herd if they were bushwhacking. The plan was to get to the drop-off location, a massive old oak stump with a lockbox hidden underneath it, and track your trail from there (if he could find it) the same way they’d back tracked Rosita’s to find Eugene the day before.

He was a bundle of anxiety, trying to picture how the hell this was gonna go if he actually found you. It’d been years… and it seemed to be pretty clear that you didn’t want to see him. If you had, he had no doubt you could have found him. And when he looked back on that time after Rick’s death, when the relationship between the two of you became more and more strained, there were a hundred things he should’ve done differently.

Shit. Focus. Ain’t no damn time to be stuck inside yer head. . Things were a lot more dangerous now that they knew someone was controlling the herds… The trip was uneventful until he had to cross the river and the wet meadow on the other side.

Creeping to the edge of the woods, Daryl looked out and saw a small herd of the dead, maybe 40. But just like he’d seen with Jesus and Aaron the day before, they weren’t walking in any particular direction. They were swirling in a circle in the middle of the open space. Beside him, Dog whined. “Shh! Dog!” Daryl could swing wide to try and avoid them, but at some point, he had to cross out in the open. He swore under his breath and rubbed a hand over his face. If he was doin’ this, he didn’t have a damn choice.

Daryl crept along the edge of the trees, staying as low as he could. He picked a spot along the river that had taller vegetation and a little bit of topography, but once he crossed he would be in the open. He’d have to army crawl if he wanted to stay out of sight.

He made the river crossing safely, staying hidden in the thicket of willows, Dog at his side. The river was shallow, and he hugged a deeply incised cut bank to stay below the line of sight. But he hit a snag on the other side. The meadow was inundated with stagnant brown water and the bottom was uneven and potholed. Thick vegetation snagged his boots. Walking was hard and crawling was impossible. He’d simply have to keep as much of himself submerged as possible and carefully find his footing to avoid attracting attention. He envied Dog who slinked through the challenge like it was nothing.

Soaking wet, cold, and caked in mud, Daryl kept as low a profile as he could when he crossed into the woods on the other side. But he was hardly ten feet in when he realized something was wrong. Dog froze beside him and faced back toward the meadow, sniffing the air. His hackles rose and he bared his teeth, letting out a low growl. Daryl squinted back across the terrain and saw that the herd was no longer circling aimlessly. They’d changed course and they were headed right toward him.

When the breeze kicked up, he swore he could hear frail whispers carried on it—the sounds Rosita and Eugene had described.

“Son of a bitch,” he growled softly. “Dog, let’s go!”

Daryl turned and rushed forward through the brush as quickly as he could, but his progress slowed as he came across a section of forest that had been pounded by a storm or straight-line winds. The ground was covered in old deadfall, the trunks parallel and lined up like matchsticks in a matchbook. But the tangle of other branches and regrowth made it difficult to navigate and Daryl’s bow and pack continually snagged or threw him off balance as he climbed over the trunks. The herd was gaining on him. At this rate, the archer knew he couldn’t outrun them. He needed to change tactics. He needed somewhere to hide.

Daryl cut to the closest edge of the windfall even while the hissing of whispers in his ears seemed to grow louder. He stumbled his way through some brush and was surprised when his feet hit clear dirt. He was on an old logging road. And he hoped against hope that he could get some distance and find somewhere to hide until the herd gave up.

“Dog, this way! Search!” Daryl rushed to keep up with his four-legged companion and was encouraged when he passed a rusted-out truck stuck sideways in the logging road. Just past it was an old state highway, though it was now narrowed by years of forest growth. A few decaying cars still sat rusting on the crumbling asphalt. Ahead, Dog let out a couple barks and Daryl rushed to find him. He found himself staring at an old radio tower, now broken off about halfway up, and there was some kind of cinderblock outbuilding beside it. “Good boy. Good boy,” Daryl breathed. He rushed to the door and banged on it as loudly as he dared, straining to listen. No movement inside. No growling or moaning. He wrenched it open but immediately knew it was no good. There was only the one way in or out and he quickly saw that it could be a death trap if the herd did manage to trace him. He’d have nowhere to go. “Shit,” he growled.

He picked a direction and ran a short way through the undergrowth but soon found himself staring up at a substantial rock wall. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he started to hurry along it, looking for an opening or a way up and over, but he quickly realized that they had ended up in the bowl of some small canyon. The only way out was back the way he came or up sheer rock formations that Dog couldn’t climb and he would have a hard time of.

Daryl crashed back through the underbrush but as he neared the highway again his heart dropped into his stomach. The herd. They were circling on the highway and he could hear the raspy whispering more clearly than ever.

Find. Kill. Kill. Circle. Circle. Wait. Find him. Daryl signaled for Dog to back up and he started to shrink back more deeply into the brush. And it was right then, at the worst possible time, that Dog yelped. A sharp stick had punctured into his paw.

The whispering rose to an entirely new volume, like white noise or blaring static, and the herd’s movement again became deliberate. They started to move ahead, straight toward him.

[scarasbaby]

°•↱ YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ANYMORE ↲•°

º• Pairing ↱ Bakugou x GN!Reader

º• Genre ↱ Fluff, Angst

º• Summary ↱ After going through multiple toxic relationships you avoid the subject until Bakugou confesses to you, and after accepting with a few conditions everything goes smoothly until one certain event

º• Warning ↱ Mention of ab*sive and toxic relationships, Cursing cause Bakugou, Bakugou is slightly OOC

º• Y/N: Your name, N/N: Nickname

You were never lucky when it came to relationships, most of them being toxic. But your last relationship in middle school made you just give up on finding love.

So there you were, in your first year of UA and hadn't been in a single relationship ever since, too scared that it might be the end of your love life. At first you tried to focus on your studies and hero training not really trusting people often. Until you moved into the dorms and actually started to interact with your classmates and made some friends along the way.

Your first surprisingly being Bakugou, as loud and rude he was he was a good person, of course a little closed of at first but he opened up with time. Everything was going great until Bakugou had asked you to follow him outside the dorms one night near the end of the year. What you didn't expect was him confessing to you, but you didn't know what to do. You wanted to give Bakugou a chance but still, you didn't trust the whole thing fully.

Luckily for you after you told him that you didn't have good relationships in the past -Not really specifying them being toxic or ab*sive- He agreed that it would start off simple, just so you could get used to it and trust him, and for so long he kept his promise. Greeting you with a light pat on the head, holding hands if you are comfortable with it, after a while kissing your forehead or cheek, nothing too much or to intense to scare you off. And that went on for a year, you for once felt comfortable in a relationship, you felt safe.

It was now the school festival of your second year and you just wanted to spend some fun time with your friends and boyfriend, and gladly everything went smoothly till the end if the day. You were now cleaning after the event your class held at the end of the day with your friends, chatting and making jokes, you walked away to dump somethings into a trash bin when you noticed a group of people chatting in front of the school gates.

One of the guys looked in your direction and smirked, you immediately recognized it and your hands started to tremble a little. It was your last ex -And the worst of them all- From middle school. He then began to walk up to you still having that evil smirk on his face. "Hey Y/N!! Haven't seen you in a while, How's life treating ya?" He spoke, standing right in front of you. You took a deep breath trying to calm down your trembling limbs before you spoke "What do you want Hiroto?" you gave him a dark glare trying to give him a hint to leave you alone "aww, is that how you treat an old friend?" he spat the last word out reaching a hand to grip your shoulder.

Tears started to form in the corner your eyes as his grip slightly tightened "How about we go out sometime? To catch up a little?" His voice was filled with venom, you were trying to pull away when you felt an arm wrap around your waist pulling you from the grip of Hiroto. "I think the fuck not. Now back of you moron" you look up to see Katsuki giving Hiroto his famous angry death glare. "And how might you be you wannabe hero?" Hiroto spat at Katsuki and you could see the anger building up in his eyes but he didn't respond.

Katsuki lets go of your waist and grabs your hand gently and pulling you away from the scene. After reaching a private place he let go of your hand and looked at you, his gaze softer than before "Sorry, I didn't mean to step you boundaries by grabbing your waist like that, Are you ok-" His sentence was cut off but you wrapping your arms tightly around his torso, burying your face in his chest.

He sighed wrapping his arms around your back, pulling you closer as you cried. After you calmed down he took you back to the dorms and up to his room "how the hell was that guy?" he asked with a gentle voice, one he always used around you. You stayed silent not sure if you should tell him about your ex.

After sitting down on his bed you buried your face in the crook of his neck, arms wrapped tightly around his torso. He started to panic once he heard you whimper lightly and felt you tremble in his arms. "Hey you don't have to tell me now, just relax ok?" He tightens his hold on your waist, rubbing his hand on your lower back trying to calm you down.

After your sobs died down and the shaking stopped he pulled away slightly to look at your face. "Better?" You only nodded before speaking again. "The guy from earlier is my... he's my ex from middle school" your voice was low, scared. But you trusted Katsuki, and it was only fair that you tell him about your past relationships.

Katsuki listened to every word you said, and he couldn't believe that people could be such bastards. His embrace tightening every time he felt you shake or tremble a little, whipping any stray tears that fall from your eyes. Once you told him everything he pulled you into a hug, running his fingers through your hair. "You don't have to worry anymore. Those assholes won't lay a finger on you ever again, and if they do then they'll have to deal with the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, and who do you think will win?" He pressed a kiss to the side of your head, then pulled away to pepper your face with kisses.

You giggled due to the action, trying to push him away. "K-katsuki! it tickles!!" He just chuckles and finishes with a last peck to your nose. He then leans forward and presses his forehead against yours "Thanks Katsuki" You mumble as your eyelids get heavier, his presence giving you comfort as you fall asleep with your head on his chest.

[idy-ll-ique]

Touch.

Pairing: Mob Boss!Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: age gap, mentions of blood, graphic descriptions of violence, death

Requested: nope

Summary: "touch her and I'll kill you" but Bucky is a man of his words.

Author's Note: Hiya peeps! Okay, so regarding the ending; there's two ways to look at it. 1) soft-dark!mob!bucky or 2) arranged marriage au with a twist. you can decide that for yourself. enjoy!

---

"Appreciate it, Marvin, but really, I'll be okay," Y/N assured her coworker, giving his arm a gentle squeeze. The single dad of 2 still looked unsure. "Y/N, it's very late, please…" She continued shaking her head. "Please. My house isn't that far," she tried and he gave up. "If you say so. Let me at least walk you to the gates." She allowed him to do that.

They chatted as they walked. "How are Eva and Evan?" she grinned at him. Marvin smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "Eva said her first word yesterday," Marvin admitted and Y/N squealed. "Ooh, what was it?!" she asked excitedly. "It was their nanny's name, actually." She smirked at the way he turned pink.

Y/N had met his kids' nanny once; she was a beautiful woman and Y/N knew Marvin had a crush on her. Her name was… Nicole, if she wasn't mistaken. "Really? That's another reason why you should ask that woman out." Marvin jokingly shoved Y/N and she laughed harder as they stood near the gates. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Y/N waved and started walking down the dimly lit street, humming under her breath. Thinking back to her chat with Marvin, a smile bloomed on her face and she chuckled to herself, shaking her head. "Oh, Marvin, you idiot," she snorted under her breath, freezing when she heard footsteps behind her. "Hi there." Slowly turning around, she saw a man.

Instinctively she took a step back; he was a bad man, he gave those vibes. "No," she said flatly and turned to leave, pausing out of fear when he harshly grabbed her arm. He spun her around and his eyes widened when they landed on her face. "Y/L/N's daughter, aren't ya, ya pretty thing," he hissed in her face and she winced.

"Let me go."

"Now that's one thing I can't do, my dear," he sighed dramatically and Y/N forced a glare on her face despite being shaken to the core. Truth was, her father ran a mob. They dealt with arms and weaponry and since Y/N had a soft soul, she had rejected her father's decision of her taking over the mob after him. He respected that, was relieved, even; he didn't want to put his daughter in danger.

Her father had a friend, young (and very good-looking, she had to admit). His name was Bucky Barnes, and he ran his own mob. His mob was bigger and more famous than her father's, he practically owned a sixth of the city. She had heard talks of her father handing his mob over to Bucky after his retirement a few years down the lane.

"Let me go," she repeated, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible as she blinked back tears. "Come on angel, I'll make it worth your time. It's been a long time since I've been with a pretty girl like you," he crooned and Y/N scrunched her nose, the action earning her a sharp slap on the cheek from the man. She cried out in pain.

Then she managed to wrench her arm away from his grip, moving to run away but this time he grabbed her waist, forcing her to elbow him in the gut. He pulled away again and she turned, placing a firm slap on his cheek as she seethed, daring him to put his hands on her again. He did, circling an arm around her shoulder as he pulled her in. She leaned forward and bit his arm. He hissed.

"You bitch!"

"Let go!" she screamed this time and he slapped her again, clamping a hand over her mouth. "I'm going to fuck the brat out of you," he whispered dangerously and Y/N's eyes watered as she tried to get away from him. A third slap, this time his ring cut her cheek. A drop of blood trickled down her soft skin and the man hummed appreciatively.

"Wh-What's your name?"

He stopped and considered her for a minute. "Rumlow," he answered simply and she started wiggling in his grip again. "Stop that!" he screamed and threw a punch at her face, hitting her square in the jaw. A fight broke out; Y/N hit him back by slapping him on the cheek again and Rumlow proceeded to choke her. Her vision going hazy she gasped and kicked him.

Straight in the crotch.

Rumlow's hands left her body as he bent forward, cupping his crotch in pain. Finding new strength, she pushed him and with nothing to ground him he fell, giving Y/N enough time to escape as she ran away, glad that she had decided to wear sneakers that day. There was only one thing on her mind; her home, which she shared with her parents.

I just want to sleep.

Coughing at times, she reached home 15 minutes later and opened the door, thinking that her parents would be asleep by then. Her watch said it was 12:30 am. Unfortunately, as she threw open the front door, she froze again for in the doorway stood her parents and in front of them, Bucky. He was holding his jacket, signalling that was about to leave.

He turned to look at her and his eyes immediately took in all the bruises that had formed on her face, as well as her clothes which were askew and the handprint of someone gripping her arm. "Y/N!" her mother exclaimed worriedly, almost fainting at the sight of her daughter looking so beaten up. Y/N's eyes snapped towards Bucky when he spoke.

"Come with me."

Without questioning his authority Y/N followed Bucky up the stairs and into the study. The moment the doors closed behind them he took her face in his hands, examining the bruises. The noise of her parents making their way upstairs stilled him for a moment but they simply walked past the study towards what he concluded was the master bedroom.

Bucky had also liked Y/N for a long time. Her parents had introduced her to him when she was 20; he was much older than her but towards the end of the day, when his friend had asked, "What do you think about my daughter?" he couldn't bring himself to lie. And surprisingly, her father was ecstatic at the idea of Bucky dating his daughter.

Well, at least he had her parents' approval.

The moment the door to the master bedroom closed, Bucky's hands resumed their motions. Y/N stood as still as possible despite being in a lot of pain, not wanting to ruin the sudden, personal moment that they were having. He had always been civil with her; never talking to her as more than a friend, never touching her for long but oh, today was much different.

Bucky carefully lifted her jaw, noticing the way she unintentionally flinched when his fingers came in contact with her chin. A broken jaw. She was also bleeding from the cheek and a trail of blood went down the corner of her lips. Barely being able to contain his anger he swiped the blood away, causing Y/N to shudder.

Tears pooled in her eyes as her skin started itching and aching. His hand left her face and gently curled around her arm, lifting it so he could get a better look at the handprint. Not one word was spoken during the entire exchange as Bucky took note of all her injuries. She suddenly lifted her hand to wipe her tears and tilted her head further up, exposing her neck.

Bucky took in a sharp intake of breath. Her neck was covered in deep purple, red and blue bruises. Someone tried to choke her. He wasn't able to contain his anger anymore but he tried his best as he finally looked Y/N in her eyes. She stared back at him, whimpering. "Who did this?" The words came out a hiss. "B-Buck…" she choked out.

"Y/N?" he whispered, bringing her hand to his lips. The intensity of the situation hit her then; Bucky liked her. Momentary happiness washed over her but there were more important things to care about. "Bucky," she breathed and leaned forward, pressing herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso.

One of his hands cradled her head, discreetly checking for injuries there as his other arm went around her waist. "I need a name, sweetheart," he hummed quietly, too quietly. "R-R—" she stammered but stopped as her wounds unknowingly caught on fire at the letter. "Rumlow?" Bucky blurted out.

He didn't think that was the name she'd take but Y/N pulled away from him with a look of disbelief on her face, causing his worst fears to come true. Rumlow got to you. Fuck, that bastard was dying today. "It was him?!" Bucky gasped and Y/N nodded. "How did you know?" she croaked out, wincing when pain shot through her throat.

"We— We've got a pretty famous rivalry going on, sweetheart, surprised you didn't know that."

"Sorry, don't keep up with mob news."

He chuckled for a moment before sobering up; straightening his shoulders as a dark look crossed his face. "I have to go now, you take care of yourself, okay?" He moved to leave when Y/N pressed a hand to his chest, stopping him. She leaned on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, the action causing butterflies to flutter in his stomach.

He gently turned her head and pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. "I'll visit tomorrow," he whispered and she nodded, a smile forming on her lips. "I'd like that very much." With a smile of his own he kissed her forehead and they both left the study, making their way downstairs. Bucky left the house and Y/N turned to see her mother standing at the top of the stairs.

"Your daddy has called the doctor, dear, he'll be here in 15 minutes."

"Okay, ma."

---

"Rumlow, you motherfucker!" Bucky roared as he stormed into the bar where he was sure his rival was. Behind him walked in his right-hand men Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers, followed by 15 of his men. Rumlow looked up from his corner, his eyes going wide at the furious look on Bucky's face. While he had seen the look a thousand times, something was different tonight.

Bucky spotted him and strode forward, easily pushing aside the men who came to their boss' defence. Rumlow gasped when Bucky grabbed him by the throat and smashed his skull against the table, eliciting a hiss and a low groan from the man. "You fucking dare—" Bucky began as he lifted him up, only to punch him square in the jaw like he had Y/N.

"You fucking dare put your hands on her!" Bucky shouted but Rumlow's head was spinning after he'd hit the table. For the first time, he realized, he was afraid. Of Barnes. In the background, Bucky's men, outnumbering Rumlow's men, fought. "You hurt her and now you're going to pay!" Lifting an empty bottle of vodka off the table with his free hand, Bucky smashed it on Rumlow's head.

Pieces of it got stuck in his scalp as Rumlow fell unconscious. All Bucky saw was red. He couldn't physically bear the thought of someone hurting his girl and being true to his words… "I promised her father," Bucky breathed out as he threw more punches at Rumlow's dying body, "No one was going to hurt her."

Another punch to the face. "I told him, anybody who touches her dies," Bucky hissed, "And yet you dare— I'm a man true to my words," Bucky promised in a sinister tone, knowing that he was talking to himself since Rumlow was long gone. His hand closed around Rumlow's neck. "You touch her—" He squeezed, "You die."

And Rumlow's dead body slumped on the floor.

The fight around him stopped instantly.

"We're done here."

---

"Princess?" Groaning softly, Y/N turned away from the voice and pulled the covers tighter around herself. "Away," she mumbled and heard a soft feminine laugh as well as two manly chuckles behind her. "You've been asleep a long time, baby," a familiar voice whispered, placing a hand on her arm. Her eyes flew open and she looked up, straight at Bucky.

"Oh my God!" Jumping up, she threw her arms around the man and buried her face in the crook of his neck, causing him to laugh. Smiling at each other, her parents left the room, leaving the two lovebirds alone. They were sure Bucky could handle breaking the news to her by himself. "Good morning," he greeted as he sat down, pulling her on his lap.

"Do you really like me?" she whispered, realizing that they had not made it explicitly clear last night. "Of course I do, princess. You're mine," he spoke in a possessive tone. "I'm yours," she agreed as she burrowed closer to him. "And no one touches what's mine and gets out alive." Y/N took a few moments to register those words.

When she did, she pulled away from him, still straddling his lap as she stared at him, jaw dropped. "You…" He nodded and Y/N's eyes went wide. Though he was delivering the news of someone's death, Y/N couldn't bring herself to feel bad. He had attacked her, he got what he deserved. "I— I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, I just wanted to tell you what I did. We can talk about something else," he offered and a smile immediately bloomed on her face. "How long have you liked me?" He laughed before cupping her face, pulling her down to press his lips to hers. "Ever since I met you 5 years ago, doll, I was smitten." Y/N gasped against his lips.

"Ever since you met me?! Me too!"

"Really?" He grinned broadly at the look of excitement on her face. My sweet angel. "Really! I— I think I might… I think I might love you but it's too early on—" she stammered but Bucky took her hands, tears starting to glisten in his eyes at her words. She loves me. "Princess, I love you too," he admitted and she paused.

"Bucky, I love you!" she smiled hugely and hugged him tightly. Bucky quietly wiped his tears off, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. He could see the bruises fading away and that calmed his heart. She's safe with me. And I'm never letting her go. "So, there's some news…" he continued and she pulled away, a curious look on her face.

"What is that?"

"Your father is retiring. I'm gonna take over the mob now." Y/N squealed and clapped her hands; she knew her father made a great decision. Bucky was more than competent. "Congratulations!" she shouted and jumped out of his arms, running out of the room to wish her father the same. Bucky chuckled as he stayed there for a moment more, running his hand through his hair.

"Can't wait to make you my wife, baby."

---

A/N: Three Bucky fics in a row 👀 leave a like if you enjoyed, thanks for reading! I really appreciate it (and thanks for 430 followers lol I love every single one of you)

[folklorelise]

Squad Leader Mom gets badly injured.

After Kuchel’s birth, Levi and you had an agreement. There would be no expedition until Kuchel had her first birthday. You did not want to leave your new-born either yet. For an entire year, you would move between your parents’ house and the survey corps headquarters. It was tiring, but you quickly got used to this lifestyle.

Kuchel’s first birthday was spent at the survey corps headquarters with your parents and your brother there as well. (it will probably be in another story) When the day of your comeback arrived, your parents came to take care of Kuchel.

“Be careful out there.” your mother told you.

“I will, don’t worry about me!”

Everyone was getting ready, putting on their gear, preparing their horse. You were so excited about this that you were one of the first ones to be ready to leave. Your squad quickly joined you.

“Squad leader Y/N! It’s really great to see you again.”

“It’s good to be back.”

The night before, Levi told you that since it had been a while since you were outside, you would have to stay close to him and his squad.

“I already talked about it with Erwin.” Levi told you after Kuchel fell asleep.

“Levi I–.”

“I just don’t want–.” Levi paused. “I want to be able to protect you if it’s needed. Which I hope it won’t happen.”

“It won’t.”

When the gate opened, and your horse started to gallop, your heart started to race. It had been a year since you went outside the walls. Thankfully, a week before the expedition, Levi made you get used to riding a horse and using your gear which made you more comfortable. However, your mind kept thinking about Kuchel – you were starting to get worried. Fortunately, the situation outside was not a getting too problematic. There were only a few titans. The night came rather quickly since it was winter, so everyone had to set up their tents.

“Mom, Armin and I are going to bring some wood.” Jean screamed before leaving.

“How are you?” Levi asked you once you were both in your tent.

“Mmh… not so great.” you tried to laugh, “I thought it would be easier.”

“I know. Leaving Kuchel the first time was terrible.” Levi admitted to you. “You just have to think about the moment you’re going to get back and hold her again.”

“I like that thought.” you put your head on his shoulder.

“Are you going to stay at home after that?”

“I like my job; I just have to get used to this.”

The rest of the cadets were sitting in circle outside, waiting for Jean and Armin to get back, but after thirty minutes of waiting, they were still not back. Then very soon, Levi and you joined the cadets.

“What if they’re lost?” you asked.

“Maybe we should go and look for them?” Sasha suggested.

“I’ll go.” Mikasa stood up.

“No, sit down.” you said which she did. “I’ll go.”

“I’ll come with you.” Levi said.

“Should we tell Erwin first?” Sasha asked.

“You go and tell Erwin that Levi and I went looking for them and that there is no need for any of you to come after us. If Jean and Armin come back, you just wait for us.” you told them putting on your ODM gear.

“Be careful!” Connie shouted when Levi and you walked away into the thick forest.

As Levi and you took Jean and Armin’s path, you quickly grabbed his hand.

“We should split up. We will find them more quickly.” you said.

“No. I’m not leaving you alone there.”

“Levi it’s fine. I promise.”

“Y/N…” Levi sighed.

“Pinkie promise then?” Levi started at you, but still shook your pinkie with his.

Levi then went to the opposite side of yours. You were screaming their names, but there was no answer. You quickly went on a high tree so you would see better thanks to the full moon.  After a few minutes of intense research, you finally found two silhouettes standing on a lower tree. You rested a minute without moving so you could catch your breath. But when you saw a titan rising up from the bottom of their tree, you immediately flew toward them.

Armin and Jean were slightly injured, and they did not have their gear on — they climb the tree when some titans started to show up. As the night came, titans started to disappear, but they were lost so they stayed on their tree. The titan beneath Jean and Armin started to shake the tree, trying to make them fell down – it was an abnormal one. It moved quickly.

When you saw the titan raising its arm toward Armin, you did not think twice and instantly flew where he was and pushed him out of the way – the titan grabbed you instead of Armin.

“MOM!” Armin yelled horrified.

The titan threw you away. Your body was thrown away against a tree, yet you were still awake when your body met the ground. The abnormal titan stared at where your body was, and it suddenly started to run toward you. You could only watch it run to you without moving, so you closed your eyes, ready to go. But nothing happened.

After Levi and you went separate ways, he searched the surroundings swiftly and then went back where you went earlier. When he saw from afar a body being thrown away, he used a lot of his gas to get to there as quickly as possible and killed the titan. Levi looked up on the tree and when he only saw Jean and Armin trying to get down, he knew whose body was lying not too far from he was. Levi dropped his swords and run to you.

You were really glad to see Levi. When he kneeled down, you could see that he was trying to hold back his tears.

“Y/N, hey.” Levi sobbed, putting his hands around your face, “It’s ok, I’m here.”

You wanted to tell him that it was ok too, but the only sound that you could make was coughing.

“Don’t try to talk.” Levi warned you.

“Mom? Mom!” Jean was the first on to arrive.

“I’m so sorry mom.” Armin cried when he saw you.

“Jean, help me get Y/N’s gear off and you’ll take it to get back and get help.” Levi ordered.

“Mom,” Jean kneeled down before leaving, “please don’t leave. I’ll be back really quickly ok?”

When he saw you nodding slightly, he flew off where you and Levi came from. Levi put his cloak around your head which was bleeding. He had put your head on his knees so you would be more comfortable. Armin was holding your hand, still crying. You squeezed his hand as hard as you can before you felt like passing out.

“Mom?” Armin called you when he felt your falling out of his. “Mom! Wake up!”

——————————

When Jean arrived at the spot, he run to where the commander was.

“Commander Erwin! You– you have to follow me!” Jean sobbed.

“Kirstein, Sasha already told–.”

“NO!” Jean yelled.

“Jean! Calm down.” Hange stood up. “Why–.”

“Mom. It’s mom, and she’s…” Jean mumbled.

“What happened to mom?” Eren asked with the rest of the cadets around him.

“She’s hurt… there was a titan and– and he just– he grabbed mom…” Jean explained still crying.

Erwin and Hange put on their gear right away, as well as your squad and the cadets. Jean showed them the way, and when they arrived Hange was the first one to be next to you. They quickly took out the emergency kit and cleaned your wound and sutured it.

“She’s still breathing which is good.” Hange declared out loud. “But we have to bring her back now.” Hange turned their head to face Levi. “You did a great job – putting pressure on her head so she would not bleed out – it was great.”

With the help of Erwin, they all gently put your body on the trolley.

“Are we all going to go back?” Mikasa asked.

“None of you will be able to continue in these conditions.” Erwin stated. “Neither can I so yes, we’re all going back with Y/N.”

On the way home, Levi constantly had his hand on your chest to make sure your heart was beating. The minute the trolley went inside the gates, the medical squad took you in charge.

Levi, Hange, Erwin and the kids were all waiting at the mess hall together. The doctor’s first news was that you had a violent concussion, as well as a few broken ribs. Your left leg was in bad shape — they were still operating.

Your parents were immediately informed about the situation and came with Kuchel as soon as possible. When they arrived, Levi took Kuchel in his arms and hugged her tightly. When Kuchel saw the cadets crying, she started to cry too.

“Ma-ma?” Kuchel cried.

——————————

When you opened your eyes, you found yourself in a house you did not recognise.

“Is there anyone here?” you asked. When you opened the door, it brought you on a vast field full of colourful flowers. You could not find anyone, but after walking around for a bit, you finally found someone sitting on the grass.

You quietly walked toward the person and sat down.

“I have been waiting for you.” the woman told you.

“Do I know you?” you asked.

“We’ve never met.”

“You look familiar though.”

“Do you know why you are here?”

“Mh… I think…”

“You had an accident remember?” the woman tried to help you remember.

“Right. The titan. Wait, am I dead?” you panicked. “I can’t be! I’m not dead right?” you turned to face her, but she only stared at you. “I can’t be!” you repeated yelling.

“Why?”

“I can’t– Levi is probably worried sick now! I can’t leave him. I can’t.” you started to cry. “And then there’s Kuchel and the kids. What am I supposed to do now?”

The woman suddenly stood up and took you in her arms, trying to calm you down.

“I don’t have an answer for you, I’m sorry.” she told you. “Let’s go back to the house, ok?”

Once you were in your bed, you closed your eye for what it seemed like a second, but when you opened your eyes again, it was already morning. The longer you stayed here, the more suspicious you got. That woman who helped you was acting weird around you – always dodging your questions. Instead, she would ask a lot of questions about Levi and Kuchel, without any reasons, but you were glad to talk about it.

As time passed, you felt weaker and weaker. You could not run anymore; you could barely wake up in the morning.

“Am I dying again?” you asked her.

“No, quite the opposite actually.”

“What does that mean?”

“Your body is getting healthier, so you’re going to go back soon.”

“Where?”

“To Levi.”

“So, I’m leaving you?” you asked to be sure.

“Yes.” she smiled.

“Does that mean you’re finally going to tell me who you are? And why you have been obsessed with Levi and–.” you then stopped and realised, “You’re– you’re Levi’s mother, right?” you guessed, “I thought you looked familiar on the first day because you look exactly like Levi.”

“I am.” Kuchel smiled at you.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“You had to rest.”

“But this is all probably just happening in my head.” you said. “Right?” but she did not answer.

“It might be.” she nodded, “I want you to know one thing before you go. I want to thank you for everything you did for my son. Levi was everything to me,” tears appeared in her eyes, “and now that I know he has someone like you, to love him, I can rest in peace.”

You did not know what to answer so you just went and wrapped her around your arms.

“Thank you for taking care of my Levi.” Kuchel thanked you again, “and for naming your child after me. You are just too pure for this world.” she backed away, “There’s someone else who would like to see you if it’s ok with you.”

“Oh. Mh… sure.” You agreed seeing another woman walking toward you.

“This is Eren’s mother.” Kuchel whispered before leaving you alone with her.

“Y/N, it’s really nice to meet you.” Carla greeted you smiling.

“Hi.” you answered timidly. “It’s–.”

“Thank you. I was really worried Eren would have to grew up lonely, without a motherly presence around him, but seeing you with him makes me feel better. I know you have your own child now, but–.”

“I love Eren.” you reassured her. “I love all of them as if they were my own. You don’t have to be worried anymore.”

Then, you suddenly felt your strength leaving you body and collapse on the floor.

——————————

Levi never left you. He would occasionally leave to shower, eat, feed Kuchel and put her to sleep, but as soon as it was over, he would rush back to you.

“Levi you should sleep a little bit.” Erwin said during one of his visits.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see her lying on the ground, with her blood everywhere. Except in my dreams, she is not alive. I can’t sleep like that. I– I can’t sleep without her.” Levi explained.

“I’m sure she’s going to wake up soon.” Erwin tried to comfort Levi.

The cadets were lifeless too. None of them wanted to get up in the morning, a lot of them could not sleep at night either.

“I can’t lose another mom.” Eren told Mikasa one night.

“You won’t. We won’t.”

Armin stayed at the library very often. It was the place where you first talked to each other – where you two bonded together. Jean would just overwork himself, trying not to think about you. Which was not successful – he would secretly visit you every time Levi went to put Kuchel to bed.

“Please wake up soon, because I miss you a lot.” Jean would tell you every night.

Connie would help Sasha taking care of Kuchel when Levi could not. Hange and Erwin stayed with Levi most of the time. Your parents and your brother visited when they could, helping as much as they could, but everyone just wanted you to wake up.

Mikasa tried to be strong for her friends – she would be comforting them if they cried or if they needed to talk. But she did not talk to anyone. Two weeks after the accident, during dinner, Mikasa broke down crying without any reason.

“Mikasa! Are you ok?” Sasha quickly took her outside, with the rest of her friends following them.

No one knew what to do. So, they just all sat around her, waiting for Mikasa to calm down on her own.

“Don’t follow me.” Mikasa said when she stood up.

She rapidly walked to your room and sat next to you.

“I miss you, mom.” Mikasa sobbed quietly. “I really miss you a lot.”

Mikasa stopped her crying when she saw Levi with Kuchel entering the room.

“It’s ok.” Levi said. “You can cry.”

“I’m fine.” Mikasa responded.

“Do you want me to leave you alone for another minute?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Most nights, Levi would just rest his head on your bed, and hold your hand and then talk to you.

“Kuchel comes sometimes to see you because she misses you. I do too. A lot.”

“This week I slept for five hours in total, which is better than last week.”

“Please wake up. I miss your voice, and I feel like I’m going to get crazy talking alone.”

“Please, don’t leave me alone.”

——————————

You spent three weeks without waking up. When you first opened your eyes, it was night. And it was one of those rare nights where Levi would be asleep. You could see how tired Levi was with the dark bags under his eyes. You really wanted to let him sleep but you were also really thirsty.

“Levi.” you grunted which just made him turn his head around. Then you tried to shake him a little, but you did not have any strength in you. Then you suddenly started to cough loudly which immediately woke up Levi.

“Y/N?” Levi asked astonished. “Am I dreaming again?”

“No. Please,” you continued to talk with a low voice, “I want water.”

“Ok. I’ll be right back, just don’t go back to sleep ok.”

“Ok.”

Levi came out of his room and took a deep breath before going to take a glass of water. After drinking water and eating the food you parents recently brought, you felt so much better.

“Do you want some?” you asked Levi.

“I’m ok.”

“You should sleep more, you look tired.” You told him once you were done eating.

“Are you sure you’re fine? I can go and wake up the doctor.” Levi asked you again ignoring your statement.

“Levi, I’m fine. You on the other side–.” but you stopped when you saw Levi started to cry again.

Levi quickly lay down next to you, hiding his face in your chest.

“Let’s sleep and talk in the morning ok?” you said.

In the morning, Levi was the first one to wake up. He thought that he dreamt about last night, but you quickly woke up after he did. Levi helped you take a real shower, and changed you before letting you lay down on your own bed. It was more comfortable than the one in the medical spot.

When Levi went to lay next to you, his bedroom door flew open with Jean out of breath.

“Mom she disappe–.” but stopped instantly after seeing you. “Mom?”

“Jean!” you opened your arms so he could hug you.

“You’re here! You’re– you’re really here, awake, alive!” Jean shouted happily. “I have to go and tell the others!”

“Where’s Kuchel?” you suddenly asked Levi.

“She’s still sleeping, she never wakes up early.”

Your conversation was cut short when all the cadets barged in. There was a lot of crying. Very soon after, Hange and Erwin also came in.

“I’m so glad to see you again.” Hange hugged you.

“It’s good to you too. Erwin come give me a hug too!”

After a morning of catching up with everyone, you and Levi went to see Kuchel. She was already up when you entered the room.

“Hello.” you picked Kuchel up.

“Ma-ma!” Kuchel laughed.

“Oh, I missed you so much.” you hold her tightly.

After seeing Kuchel, you had to leave and meet your doctor to check on you. But Levi decided to bring Kuchel with you because as she saw you leaving, she started to cry.

“She definitely won’t be leaving you any time soon.”

The doctor advised you to continue to rest for another month before going back to any kind of activities. For dinner, the kids insisted on eating with you which you agreed to obviously.

“You should eat more.” Mikasa told you, giving you half of her meal.

“Here, you should take my bread too.” Connie said.

After a lively dinner, the kids spent the evening playing with Kuchel while Levi and you just sat there and watched them.

“Aren’t you tired?” Levi asked you.

“No. Stop worrying about me. I would tell you if I was tired.” you said taking his hand.

“Mom, can we sleep over tonight please?” Eren asked.

“No.” Levi answered.

“Of course you can, just bring your sleeping bags and join us in our bedroom.” You quickly added.

“Why?” Levi complained.

“I can’t say no to them.”

“I can.”

“Just this once, I’m sure it’ll be great.”

At night, everyone fell asleep rather quickly except for you. You tried to close your eyes and sleep, but you could not.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Levi whispered.

“Sorry, I can sleep elsewhere if–.”

“No, if you’re not there I won’t sleep. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t know…”

“Do you want to go and take a walk outside?”

“You should sleep instead of doing this.”

“I won’t be able to sleep now that I know you can’t.”

Levi put on his long coat and you did the same before leaving quietly the room. You both sat down outside on the grass.

“I–.” you started, “I almost died.” you said out loud laughing dryly.

“Y/N, if you want to cry, it’s ok. I’ll be here.”

“N– no.” but then immediately started to cry uncontrollably.

Levi immediately took you in his arms and let you cry for as long as you needed. You calmed down after fifteen minutes of crying but stayed in Levi’s arms.

“Are you feeling better now?” Levi asked you.

“I don’t know…”

“It’s ok too. Do you want to go back and try to sleep?”

“Yes.”

Levi took your hand and you both walked back to your bedroom. Once you were both comfortably set in bed you put your head on his chest.

“I love you Levi Ackerman.” you said looking at him blush slightly.

“I… love you… too.” Levi responded trying to avoid your gaze.

“Ew my parents are being disgustingly in love.” Jean commented looking away.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Levi asked him.

“I was thirsty but I’m not anymore.”

“Goodnight Jean.” you told him before closing your eyes.

“Goodnight mom.”

After that incident, the kids started to be more and more protective of you outside the walls, by always being behind you. Levi would never be too far away as well. Eren was always ready to transform into a titan to protect you. But nothing too bad happened after this.

—————————

—————————

I have a tiny part 2 where Levi gets nightmares about that incident, but never talks about it sigh Y/N. Reader eventually found out and Levi finally talks about it. It would probably be short though.

Have a nice day!! And remember, you are incredible!

MASTERLIST

[suna-reversed]

the sweetest thing

MAFIA AU! USHIJIMA X FEM READER !!nsfw!!

warnings/tags- slight voyeurism, fingering, smut turned fluff

The mixed scent of alcohol and that one expensive cologne he always wore hit you like a ton of bricks. That’s all you forced yourself to focus on, but you found it quite a tough task as the strong lingering trail of your juices filled the air, two of his long digits pushing past your slick walls. Choking back on a moan, you gripped his wrist tightly, confused as to whether you wanted to pull his hand off of you or beg him to rub it against you harder. He stopped his ministrations as you did so, not because he got the hint, but just so he could make you look up into his stern eyes that conveyed exactly how much worse tonight would be for you if you didn’t let him continue. 

You don’t exactly know how you ended up here. In the backseat of a posh car owned by the most dangerous man amongst Japan’s underground mafia. Just a whisper of his name had even the most powerful of gang leaders shaking with fear. You were still conflicted about the fear, but he sure did have your legs shaking more and more with each thrust of his fingers. You had buried your face in his shoulder, hoping that the red-haired driver would simply believe that your closeness to the man he answered to was simply a gesture of affection and not a desperate attempt at muffling your moans. You seemed to fail at that task as the fingers inside you were pulled out, only to be placed at your sensitive nub instead, rubbing circles so hard and fast that you couldn’t contain the sudden moan that left your mouth. You came undone, hips bucking against the rings on his fingers as your mind drowned in both pleasure and shame.

You could barely breathe as you felt the car come to a stop in front of your college campus. Ushijima simply put your pushed aside panties back in place, bringing up his fingers to his mouth to suck off your juices, his intense gaze locked onto yours. You didn’t think your face could get any more flustered. 

“Let me walk you back to your dorm.” Not a question. 

A shiver went down your core for what you were in for. Your mind flashing back to the memory from barely less than an hour ago when Ushijima had you pressed up against a wall outside the venue of the banquet, his lips attached to yours, the taste of champagne and cigars still heavy on his tongue as it explored yours with a passion as deep as the mariana trench. 

Your train of thought was interrupted as you noticed he had already gotten out, waiting for you with an outstretched hand. Despite having just felt him so deep inside you, the gesture somehow managed to give you more butterflies. It felt different. somehow more intimate. His calloused fingers slowly wrapped around yours, his large hand encasing almost all of yours. It made you feel warm. protected. safe. The crimson blush that grew on your nose didn’t go unnoticed by him, and maybe that’s why he didn’t leave your hand even as you started walking. Looking back, you wondered how differently things would’ve turned out if you hadn’t tripped over that one particular chair leg that unfortunate day. 

-------------------

“I would rather eat glass than live this day all over again” you thought to yourself while recapping the events of the last 18 hours.

Your roommate had shown up drunk late at night, bruised up and beaten from a bar fight, barely giving you any time to sleep as you tended to them. Because of that, not only were you sleep deprived, but also super late to your morning classes. Plus, you were pretty sure you had managed to royally fuck up the exam you had in the afternoon. 

Wanting to unwind from the trainwreck of a day, you had stopped by your favourite cafe to grab a coffee. A headache seemed to be crawling up your head as you stood in line waiting for your order. You were so tired, you barely paid attention to your steps as you grabbed your order and went to leave. Instead, you felt time slow down as your foot got caught on the edge of a left out chair, your drink going flying onto the chest of the person who had been sitting on the opposite side. It took you a second to scramble up your feet, ready to apologise to whoever you had just sprayed with a high dose of caffeine. But as you looked up, you found yourself a little breathless staring into the olive brown orbs of a greek god of a man. A greek god whose face was raging with passive anger. The look immediately sent you into a ramble of apologies, your words of “I’m so sorry” and “I’ll pay for the ruined shirt” getting all jumbled over each other as you poorly tried to explain your own clumsiness. 

‘It’s alright. You don’t have to pay for anything.’ The deep rumble of his voice made your insides shiver. 

“Are you sure? I can get you a tissue-”

“It’s fine, I was leaving anyway.” 

A curt nod was all you received before the man turned his broad back to you, striding out with confidently. You found it weird that not even a single person turned their head to look at the man in a white shirt with a large brown stain stretched across it. You pushed that thought out to the side as a wave of tiredness hit you again. Relieved that the situation didn’t get messy, you walked back to your dorm for a much needed nap.

On the other hand, people who had known the identity of the menacing man gawked at you, wondering how you had walked just out the place without a bullet in you. 

----------------------

“Achoo!” 

You wrapped your arms around yourself, visibly shivering as the cold air hit you. You almost whined at the warmth of Ushijima’s hand being pulled out of yours. But then a much larger and warmer fabric was thrown over your shoulders, you could've melted right there at its softness. Gazing up at him from under your lashes, you muttered out a small thanks as you nuzzled further into the collar of his cozy coat. You could've sworn you heard him sucking in his breath. His hand slipped into yours again, tugging you closer. You walked in silence, your mind still clouded by all that had happened in the span of half a night. 

“Well, that’s my building.” you said. Looking over at Ushijima’s face, you found it glowing under the illumination of the lights coming from past the entry gates.

“ Thank you for accompanying me tonight y/n.”

“ Oh, it was no big deal really. Plus, I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you for inviting me.” 

He gave you a small smile as his hand left yours and he turned around, ready to leave,

“Wait! Aren’t you going to…” You trailed off as he turned back, raising an eyebrow at your puzzled face. 

Your face contorted in confusion, was he not going to join you in your dorm? Especially after the bulge you’re sure you felt while you had been grabbing onto his thighs for support in the car earlier. 

 “...come inside?” You finished, your voice small and hesitant. 

His lips twitched upwards almost playfully, 

“Was the perverse exposition in the car not enough for you?”

“No!- I mean yes, it was.” You found your voice getting smaller and smaller. “But um- don’t you...need anything?” 

Your breath hitched in your throat as he took two long strides towards you, your face now an inch away from his chest. You felt a finger lift your chin as he brought his head close to your ear to whisper,

“Not now- I want to take my time with you” His teeth grazed down as he mumbled onto the skin of your neck, “- to learn every inch of you.” 

A small moan escaped past your throat. Pulling away, his intense burning gaze faded as a smirk formed on his lips, 

“Besides, we wouldn’t want you to wake the whole building up with your screams now would we?” 

Your eyes widened at that, causing a small laugh out of him. That only resulted in you getting more flustered.

“Ok then, I guess I’ll see you soon Ushijima-san.” 

“Wakatoshi” 

“Huh?” 

“It’s Wakatoshi for you.” He said, adjusting the collar of his coat on you and then leaning forward to press a gentle kiss against your brow. 

You tried to ignore the deafening drumming of your heartbeat in your ears as you muttered out a “Goodnight Wakatoshi”, earning a pleased look from the man himself. 

“Goodnight y/n.” 

 Was he really as vicious and bloodthirsty as he was known to be? But then who was the man who had just now made you drown in an ocean of pleasure and then tender affection? Walking away, you could only wonder of all that you were yet to receive from the dual faced man.

------------

N E ways, hardcore dom-sub rough sex in part two? ☉_☉

[delaber]

Coming Home

Note: The fic no one asked for but I still wrote because I had to. Pretty sure this will be my last Rafa fic. It’s been a ride. Thank you!

Words: 7.7K

It was one of those blisteringly hot days where all you wanted to do was to laze about in front of a fan with your feet up and eat popsicles in the hopes of cooling just a tiny bit down. The sun was scorching and there was little to no wind at all, making it close to unbearable to be out of the shade for more than two minutes at a time - but unfortunately, you found yourself stuck in the middle of a very sunny lawn at Nat's garden-themed birthday party. Several times during the day, you had caught yourself looking jealously towards the enticing pool area at the end of the lawn but unfortunately had to settle for self-administered time-outs in the shade under various palm trees that were lining the garden.

At one of said time-outs, the birthday girl Nat approached you with a huge smile and two drinks in hand, "oh, there you are!" She exclaimed happily as she reached the same tree as you and handed you one of the piña coladas she was holding, "I've been looking all over!"

"Sorry," you smiled at your best friend and accepted the cocktail she was offering you, "I needed to cool down for a bit," you said while fanning your hand in front of your face

"Ooh, great idea - make room for me," Nat too stepped under the shade of the palm tree and immediately started fanning her top, "Jesus Christ, it's hot today!"

"Well, you were the one to insist on not having gazebos for your party," you shot your best friend a small smile, "it ruins the aesthetic," you mimicked her words from a few days ago with a laugh.

"Oh, shut up!" Nat let out a chortle, "I clearly made a terrible decision."

"Yeah, you should always listen to me and Diggs," you chuckled while having a sip of your tropical drink, enjoying how it slowly seemed to lower your core temperature as soon as the cold liquid hit your oesophagus.

"Hey, speaking of; have you seen him?" Nat squinted her eyes while shooting her phone a glance, "he's not answering any of my texts."

"I talked to him over by the snacks a little over an hour ago," you pointed over your shoulder, "he said he had to take off for a bit."

"He had to take off?" Nat furrowed her eyebrows, looking directly at you with disbelief written all over her face. From her expression alone, you could tell what was going through her head; as Nat's long-term boyfriend, Diggs knew exactly how important her birthday was to her. "That's seems a bit out of character..." she mumbled sadly.

"Aww, don't worry - he'll be back in a bit."

"What was so important for him to do on today of all days?" Nat sounded crestfallen.

"Come on Nat, what kind of an errand could he possibly have to run on his girlfriend's birthday?" You rolled your eyes.

"...But he already got me a present," she fiddled with the shiny new bracelet around her wrist.

"Maybe he's getting you a surprise," you shrugged mysteriously.

"Really?" The sad look on Nat's face was quickly replaced by wide eyes accompanied by a broad smile, "A surprise?"

"Don't tell him I said anything!" you laughed.

"Well, did he tell you what it was?"

"Nope... He probably knew we'd end up having this conversation," you chuckled.

"Slick bastard," Nat muttered under her breath before her voice returned to normal, "well, I hope he gets back soon. Of course I'm excited about the surprise but I don't want him missing out on the party."

As if on cue, a loud clanking noise coming from the shrub-embedded gate at the other end of the lawn had both you and Nat whip your heads around; Diggs had stepped inside the closed-off garden with a huge smile plastered on his face, stopping as soon as his feet hit the soft grass. He scanned the area for the birthday girl, and when his gaze finally landed on Nat, you watched how his face immediately turned soft as their eyes met across the lawn.

"Ah, there he is," Nat sighed happily as she took in her handsome boyfriend.

"...yeah, but he's empty handed," you added with a sigh after a quick scan for a birthday present in his open palms.

"Oh, you're right. Must be something he can stow away in a pocket..."

"Or something that's too heavy for him to carry alone," you added.

"Either way I'm just glad he's back," Nat said dreamily and send Diggs a small wave to which he replied with a sappy smile and a wink.

"Ah, I'm third-wheeling so hard right now," you gagged and with a grin turned your back towards Diggs in the hopes of making it less awkward for yourself.

"Yeah, sorry babe," Nat was biting her lower lip, trying to contain herself as she gazed at her handsome boyfriend over your shoulder.

"You look terribly confused all of a sudden," you laughed as you took in Nat's furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, he's just... standing there - why is he not moving?"

"What? He's standing completely still?" you arched an eyebrow, looking at Nat who still wasn't sparing you a glance.

"No, he's... looking for something on the other side of the hedges. And he's talking to someone - I think?"

"On the phone?"

"No... - oh wait, looks like he brought someone along."

"He brought someone?" you repeated curiously, "who?"

"I don't know. I don't recognise him..." Nat looked confused as she squinted her eyes, trying to focus on what was happening at the other end of the lawn. Then suddenly, her face changed, "- hey, is that...? No - wait... - Oh my god! It is!" She finally whipped her head around, looking directly at you with huge eyes, "he's here."

"...Who is?" you looked at her confused.

Nat didn't have time to answer your question before a male voice that you didn't immediately recognise rang from behind you, "Ey yo, Nat!"

"I'm sorry..." Nat whispered, "- but I have to..." she shot you a pained look before she moved past you with a squeal as she briskly walked away from the shade under the palm tree.

Confused, you spun around and scanned the lawn for Diggs and his mystery companion. Diggs had put on one of his more colourful outfits, and your eyes were immediately drawn to him and the smug smile he was wearing as he took in Nat who was now running at full-speed towards a sharp-dressed man to his right.

"Rafa!" Nat exclaimed loudly as she fell into the well-dressed man's arms, "you're here! I can't believe it!" she squealed.

The mere sound of his name made the hairs on the back of your neck stand while the blood quickly drained from your face. You instantly felt your throat go dry and your head dizzying as Nat's words rang in your ears. Rafa was here? Rafa as in Rafael? No, it couldn't be...

You adjusted your gaze slightly but sure enough; there he was. In the middle of the lawn in a tight embrace with your best friend. None other than Rafael Casal.

That. Fucking. Prick.

"You're kidding me..." you mumbled under your breath.

What the fuck was he doing here?!

You immediately felt your heart rate increasing and your palms getting sweaty as you took him in. He had grown a beard and cut his hair short, making the area above his forehead strangely lonely without its familiar swoop of hair that he had been so fond of back when you had known him. Your eyes travelled across his face that was plastered with the toothy grin you had once loved, and down to the strong arms that you had once known every vein of. There weren't any tattoos on his arms that you didn't recognise but he had definitely built more muscle mass since the last time you'd seen him.

You had to admit that even though you were more than regularly annoyed with him, he looked good - he just didn't look like Rafa. Not your Rafa at least. He looked more man than jokester, a ghost of the boy you'd once called yours.

When the tight embrace in front of you finally ended, Rafa straightened up and looked over Nat's shoulder, his green eyes immediately piercing through you. He did a quick scan of you from the tip of your sneakers to the top of your head, and if it hadn't been for the fact that you knew that you looked good in your new dress, you might have grown flustered under his intense stare - but you didn't. He could stare all he wanted and meanwhile use the opportunity to think about what he had let go of - what he was missing out on!

He looked you up and down a few times and when his eyes reached yours, he sent you a tentative look and a careful smile that you didn't reciprocate. After all, pretending that Rafael Casal meant absolutely nothing to you was something you had perfected over the years.

When he finally realised that your face would remain stone cold and without the smallest trace of friendliness, he quickly looked back at Nat and sent her a broad smile as she began mumbling something to him about how he was the last person she'd expected to see today.

Meanwhile, you used the opportunity to march over to Diggs and pull him aside; "what the hell do you think you're doing?!" You hissed at him, your voice so low that only he could hear.

"Oh, I'm just watching my best friend and my girl reconcile after years apart," he smirked, his eyes still locked on the two friends talking excitedly in the middle of the lawn.

"Don't get smart with me, Diggs!" You said through gritted teeth, "why the fuck didn't you tell me that he was coming? You know how I feel about him! He's a snake!"

"Jesus Christ," Diggs rolled his eyes, "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. If you'd known that I was picking him up at the airport, you would've ended up faking an excuse to leave before I'd returned."

"And with good reason! You know what he did! I don't want to talk to him!"

"You need to resolve this shit between the two of you," he shrugged, "You need to learn to be in the same room as him. It's been way too long already, and it cannot go on like this forever."

"Oh, watch me!" You huffed childishly, looking over at Rafa's dumb smile as he said something incoherent to Nat.

"Bruh..." Daveed cocked his head and sent you an unimpressed look, "He didn't come to mess with you. He came for Nat... He misses her."

"- but," you tried to interject but Diggs immediately cut you off: "- And before you say anything -" he continued, "- look at how happy she is!" he gestured to Nat who had now gone back to hugging Rafa tightly, "I know that her loyalty to you dictates that she has to hate him or whatever, but she has clearly missed him too. So if you can't do it for yourself, please just behave yourself for Nat."

A guilty pang hit your chest when you looked at Nat's happy smile, and you realised that she had cut off all contact with Rafa for your sake. "For the record; I never told her she couldn't talk to him," you mumbled.

"I know," Diggs nodded, "that's just how good of a friend she is."

"Alright... I'll behave for Nat," you sighed with a slight scowl before you quickly continued, "- but I'm not going to talk to him! No way!"

Diggs shot his hands in the air in a surrendering manner, "hey: normal, regular behaviour is all I'm asking for! You can ignore him for all I care - just be civil."

You didn't answer Diggs but instead continued to scowl as you watched Rafa and Nat having a giggle about something. The sound of Rafa's obnoxiously loud laugh swimming in your ear canals made your stomach go annoyingly warm, and for a millisecond you actually wished that he was laughing at something dumb alongside you instead of Nat - or at least you wished for it until you reminded yourself of what he had done, and the familiar anger towards him soon returned.

"Aw, come on," Diggs let out a laugh when he saw your angry face. He gave your shoulder a playful shove before he put his arm around you, "let's get you a drink - you look like you need it."

"Yes, I need it!" you groaned as he led you away from Nat and Rafa, "- and a big one too 'cause my dumb friends had my nemesis fly in from New York behind my back."

Diggs laughed a little at your miserable tone of voice, "cheer up," he chuckled, pulling you a little closer, "...and to be fair, I did the inviting. Nat had nothing to do with this."

"God, you're the worst," you mumbled as you reached the self-service bar, "I cannot believe you'd spring this on me after what he did!"

"Come on. It's been three years," Daveed shrugged and smiled down at you before he pulled out two clean glasses.

"That's easy for you to say when you weren't implicated in it," you mumbled sourly without looking directly at him.

"I may not have been directly involved, but you know I still got caught up in the middle," Diggs sent you a short look before he poured both of you a drink, "- and I still am."

"How?" You said incredulously, "I literally never talk about him."

"Exactly," Diggs shot you a sideways glance as he screwed off the cap of a tonic water, "you never talk about him. It's forced."

"It's forced? Since when is not talking about your asshole of an ex-boyfriend forced?"

"I know you miss him," Diggs said softly and sent you a careful look.

You forced yourself to scoff as you accepted the gin tonic from him, "I have no idea what you're talking about! I literally could not care less about Rafael at all," you looked across the lawn and immediately caught Rafa's gaze that was aimed directly at you. His eyes were huge, his gaze soft and longing. You thought to yourself that he looked as if he was the one who'd been wronged all those years ago. As if you were the one who had disappeared off to New York before royally fucking everything up. Which you absolutely weren't!

-

Rafa had been annoying as hell all night! Whenever you were no more than a few milliseconds away from letting down your hair and forget about the fact that your nemesis was attending the same party as you, you could hear his annoying foghorn of a laugh in the group of people next to you. And although you were trying your absolute best to avoid him completely, he still seemed to be all over, somehow always within a ten-foot radius from you, his cutting-torch-like voice constantly poking at your eardrums.

You were successful in avoiding him up until around midnight when you unfortunately were careless enough to lay down your guard for a few seconds too long, not realising that he had approached you at the self-service bar while you had been looking around for a lime for your drink. "Hey," you heard a low growl behind you as you were cutting the citrus into wedges.

You didn't have to look up from the table to know who the voice belonged to. "Rafael," you said neutrally while screwing off the cap of the tequila bottle you were holding, pouring up a couple of ounces of liquid without sparing him a glance.

"Hmm... Ra-fa-el," he repeated slowly, dragging out the name and smacking his lips as if savouring how it rolled off his tongue, "you know what? I don't think I've ever heard you call me Ra-fa-el before."

With your gaze still firmly placed on the tequila-filled glass in front of you, you arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything as you continued working on the cocktail, desperate to not give in to his antics.

You could feel his gaze burning on your skin, his eyes following your every move as you poured Cointreau into the cocktail glass and quietly waited for him to leave you alone again. He didn't budge, however, and when he realised that you intended to keep your silence, he quietly asked, "...How are you doing?"

"Great," you said and pressed your lips firmly together.

"Good..." Out the corner of your eye, you could see his head bopping up and down as he took you in, "I - uhm - I always liked you in green, you know," he grinned cockily. You knew he was just acting this way to get your attention but annoyingly enough; it was working for him. His comment made you dart your eyes towards him, shooting him an unimpressed sigh that he reciprocated with a careful smile, anxious to see if his compliment had tugged at your heartstrings. But even though his words had made your head dizzy and your diaphragm contract considerably, you still managed to keep a straight face as you took him in. His gaze was soft and satisfied, and a strange feeling hit your guts when you looked into his green eyes for the first time in over three years. Seeing the familiarity of his overly confident gaze made you realise that he hadn't exactly turned into the destructive villain that you had made him out to be after he had moved to New York three years ago. Behind the masculine beard and the buzzcut, the jokester with the soft chin and the long quiff was still in there. Your Rafa was still in there, and for a tenth of a second it made your heart ache as you wished for a time that he had long ago ruined.

He had clearly realised that you were checking him out because slowly, yet surely, his smirk grew considerably while he maintained eye-contact. It made you furious! He. Did. Not. Have. The. Upper. Hand. Taking in your angry expression, he shifted the weight on his feet while giving out a low chuckle, "I guess what I mean to tell you is that you look good. Like really good! - even when you're fuming."

"You look old," you stated flatly to make him stop feeling so overly confident.

To your dismay, however, he wasn't the least bit hurt by your comment but instead spluttered happily and let out a loud laugh, making the crow's feet around his green irises dance around as his eyes squinted tightly together in amusement. He looked irritatingly handsome, and it made you even more annoyed with him; he wasn't supposed to be amused by your low blow, he was supposed to be devastated!

You chewed your bottom lip as he annoyingly confident ran a hand through his beard and took you in with his forever playful smile. The fairy lights surrounding the self-service bar caught something shiny around his wrist as he caressed his chin, and you recognised the piece of metal immediately. It made you scoff, "you really still have that?" You nodded towards the golden band around his arm that you had given him for his 25th birthday some years ago. Even though it had been quite expensive, you'd figured that he had thrown it out long ago.

"You're kidding me?" He said incredulously, furrowing his brows and fiddling with the shiny links around his arm, "of course I still have this! It means a lot to me, I wear it every day!" He sent you a tentative smile, once again checking to see if he was so lucky that his words had defrosted you.

He wasn't.

"What?" He asked with an amused twinkle in his eyes when he took in your unimpressed face, "I swear; It's one of my most treasured possessions."

"Rafael... Just..." You let out a small sigh and folded your arms across your chest, "- just drop the pleasantries and tell me why you're really here," you demanded, "I highly doubt you're here to small talk."

"Aw come on - I'm just here for Nat's party. I didn't come to stir shit up. I promise!" He looked at you with honest eyes, still with a trace of a smile on his lips.

"Then why are you attacking me at the drinks table?" You were surprised to hear how steady you managed to keep your voice when it felt as if your entire body was shaking.

"I just wanted to say hi," he shot you a careful look, taking in every movement of your facial muscles, "You've been avoiding me all day."

"Wonder why," you clicked your tongue against the roof of your mouth, looking away from him.

"I know it seems like an unnecessary question but are you still angry with me?" He asked, his smile still in place but suddenly a bit stiff.

"I was angry at first. Now I don't really care about you anymore," you smiled overly-sweetly.

"Yeah okay," Rafa's stiff smile faltered a bit and it looked as if you'd finally managed to knock him slightly off his course. This probably wasn't how he had imagined the conversation to go. It was a nice feeling to see him slightly panicked. "Ehm..." he smacked his lips, "would you like me to leave?"

"Yes," you breathed, but even you could hear the thickness of the lie in your throat. Even though you were keen on keeping your distance to him, you were still terribly curious as to why he had passed you up three years after your horrible break-up. After all, it had ended in lies and angry tears.

His smirk turned amused, and he could barely hold back a triumphant chuckle when he spoke, "I can tell you're not being serious," he tilted his head to the side.

"My God, you are insufferable!" you said through gritted teeth, "just tell me why you're here!"

"Well..." he licked his lips before he slowly stated, "Sofía's pregnant."

He had barely finished pronouncing the word pregnant before you felt the blood immediately drain from your face. "You're... having a baby?" You breathed and blinked a few times, bracing yourself for his answer. After everything that had happened, you couldn't believe that the mental image of Rafa with someone else was still able to make your stomach ache horribly, and you were immediately reminded of the fact that you hadn't left him because you had fallen out of love with him.

"Am I having a...-? Oh God no!" He laughed when he understood, "Sofía as in my sister! My sister is pregnant! I'm about to be an uncle. Tio Rafa."

You felt a wave of relief wash over you when his words finally settled, and the blood quickly returned to your cheeks making them unbearably hot. "Well, congratulations then, I guess," you mumbled, trying to conceal your flustered face.

"Thanks!" He smiled proudly and put on a goofy expression.

"I still fail to see what your sister's pregnancy has to do with me."

"Well, you see..." he licked his lips, "Sofía and her boyfriend are constantly talking about baby-stuff, and who in their lives are important to them, and insurances, and dying wills, and things like that - and I guess it kinda made me think about stuff in my life too," he gave out an awkward shrug, shooting you a careful look, "you know... Unresolved matters and so on..."

"...and then you thought about me?" You scoffed.

"Yeah," he nodded carefully, "I miss you."

"Rafael..." you closed your eyes and sighed in disbelief.

"Oof," he winced and it made you open your eyes and look at him. "- could you stop calling me that?" He looked pained, "It's - it's weird!"

"Well it is your name, isn't it?"

"I know, I know... Hearing it from you is just - it's just weird..." he mumbled while rubbing his neck, "only strangers call me by my first name."

"We're practically strangers."

"We are?" He looked taken aback.

You shot him a sideways glance, "yes, we are Rafael," you sighed and watched how his nostrils did an involuntary twitch at the sound of his given name.

He merely grunted while shooting you a weird look.

"What?" You asked incredulously, "you don't agree?"

"No. No, not at all," he shook his head, "I know you."

"Not anymore you don't," you turned back to your drink, stirring it a little just to give your shaking hands something to do.

"I know every freckle of your body..." he said quietly, his voice so full of emotion that it made your heart ache. "I know why you have a scar on your left knee," he continued, "I know all your guilty pleasures. What makes you tick. Your likes. Your dislikes. Of course I realise that we didn't end optimally but you can't pretend that we don't know each other," he ran a hand through his beard.

As soon as the words had escaped his mouth, you shot him an angry look, "we didn't end optimally?!" You hissed at him, "well, it was your fucking choice to end it that way, wasn't it?"

"Ah, so you are still mad at me," He stated flatly, taking in your expression.

You managed to turn off some of the fire you felt in your eyes before you spoke, "No I'm not, Rafael. As I said, I don't care about you at all," you said coldly, "Is that all? Can I go back to my best friend's birthday party now, or are you in the mood to ruin yet another one of my nights?" You shot him a deadpan look.

"I can't force you to talk to me," he said quietly, his eyes huge with disappointment.

"What do you even want to talk about?" Your voice was laced with frustration, "it's been three years! I've moved on - I don't need this, Rafa!" You wanted to smack yourself when you realised that you had let his pet name slip.

"I just want to apologise. Properly..." he said quietly while awkwardly rubbing his elbow, decent enough to let the use of his nickname slide.

"Apologising is not going to change what happened."

"I know... but you still deserve a proper apology from the guy who hurt you."

You gave out a scoff but didn't say anything.

"Look," Rafa continued, "can you please just give me ten minutes alone with you? Some place quiet. Ten minutes and I swear, I'll never talk to you again if you don't want me to. I just want to tell you how sorry I am. I think we both need it."

You weighed the pros and cons. Maybe it would actually be good for you to get some closure so you could finally forget about him? You decided that you might as well try. It'd be nice to stop thinking about him for good. "Fine! You have ten minutes and not a second more!" you said sternly, "but let me be very clear about one thing: I am not doing this for you!"

"I know," he nodded slowly, and followed you to a deserted bench a little away from the rest of the party.

He sat down next to you with a content sound, "Cig?" he asked while holding out a crumbled package.

"I quit," you pushed the package away, your fingers briefly brushing over his. It made him smile slightly but he quickly concealed it by clearing his throat.

"Good for you," Rafa nodded while lighting a cigarette for himself, taking a long drag while looking at you. "So..." he said quietly, "I hear that you finally landed that job you used to work so hard for."

"If you just wanted to smoke cigarettes and small talk, we didn't have to go all the way back here," you crossed your arms.

"Tough crowd," he laughed, "come on. Just humour me for a bit... I miss talking to you."

You scoffed, "you have nine minutes and fourty-five seconds left, Casal."

"Nine minutes and fourty-five seconds," he nodded in agreement, "so... that job of yours - congratulations! Your hard work finally paid off, huh?" He tried again.

"Have you been stalking my linked-in?" You said sourly.

"Nah, Diggs gives me little updates," Rafa chuckled awkwardly, "-or he did for a while at least. Up until about a year ago when he got real angry with me," Rafa clenched his teeth tightly together, looking uncomfortable.

"Diggs got angry?" You said in disbelief. Out of the two, Rafa was definitely the hot-headed one.

"Oh shit, yeah!" He nodded with a laugh, "I know it's hard to believe because it's such a rare occurrence but that just made it so much scarier! For a second, I thought he would punch me in the face!"

"Well, that should teach you to keep your abnormally large nose out of my business," you scoffed slightly.

"That's what he said too," Rafa chuckled, "-and that if I wanted to know how you were doing, I should give you a call myself," he sent you a small smile, "- but I knew you would have my balls in a wrench if I suddenly called you up out of the blue."

"Correct."

He smiled, "yet here we are. Talking quietly without screaming at each other. My balls free as ever."

"You're lucky I left my wrench at home today, Casal."

He let out an amused snort and took another drag of the cigarette, "yeah, I can't believe my luck this evening," he smiled without looking at you, "hey, while we're on the subject of updates; I - uhm - I also want to let you know that I heard about your dad. I was very sad to learn about his passing."

You felt a sharp pain in your chest, and you held your arms a little closer to your chest, "Diggs told you about that too, huh?" You mumbled, unable to look Rafa in the eye. Even though little over two years had passed since your dad had died, thinking about him still hurt.

You felt Rafa nod beside you, "Yeah. He called me right after it happened... I know your dad meant a great deal to you. Meant a great deal to me too to be honest..." he sighed.

"I know..." you thought of the special bond the two men had always shared. Even long before you and Rafa had fallen in love, your dad had hoped that you would end up together.

"I was seconds away from flying home to see him off at the funeral, you know - but given how you and I ended things, I didn't think you should deal with me on top of losing your dad..." he shot you a sideways glance.

You decided not to tell Rafa about how you had woken up on the morning of the funeral, wishing that he had been there. Wishing that everything had magically gone back to normal overnight. Instead, you merely mumbled, "you should've come. My dad would've loved that... He always liked you."

"Yeah, I liked him too," Rafa nodded, "I still think about him every time I hear a terrible joke or see someone in a Laker's shirt."

"Oh god, all those fucking shirts," you groaned and thought of the hundreds of basketball shirts that your dad had had stacked neatly away in his closet. You couldn't believe that you had completely forgotten about them.

Rafa chuckled, "what did you end up doing with them? I imagine that you donated them in your dad's spirit."

"Naturally," you nodded and felt yourself uncross your arms for the first time since you'd sat down. "My mom kept one, and the orphanage got most but we auctioned off the rarest ones and gave the money to charity. That was what he wanted, you know."

"Ah, what an icon," Rafa sighed, "well, you should be proud of him and the work he did for the community. He was a great man. A proper role model for the bay."

You nodded in agreement while scanning Rafa. It was nice to talk about your dad with someone who knew him but who hadn't seen him fragile and sick. Someone who didn't think of him as his diagnosis, and you realised that for the first time since his passing, things actually seemed fairly back to normal. Sitting side by side with Rafa actually felt welcome and normal. Maybe you'd grant him a couple of minutes more of your time.

Rafa's eyes skirted away from you, and he nervously cleared his throat before he continued, "Uhm... not that it matters but did you - did you ever tell him about what happened between us?"

"My dad? No..." you shook your head with a sad sigh, "he loved you like his own son, and I didn't want to break his heart. So I just told him that we couldn't make the whole long distance-thing work."

"Oh, right... Thanks," Rafa nodded.

"I didn't do it for you."

"Still... I'm glad he didn't get to know that side of me. I'm not so sure he would've liked me if he'd known the truth about how I broke his daughter's heart."

"I'm not so sure either..."

"I - I hated myself after, you know," He looked over at you with a pained expression after a couple of seconds of silence, "I have never regretted anything more in my entire life."

"What? Not going to the funeral?"

"No. You know... What I did..." he said sheepishly.

"Oh..."

"The minute I woke up I - I wanted to undo everything," he looked at you pleadingly, "I felt so fucking terrible. Still do. I can't even think about it without wanting to stab myself. It is without a doubt the worst thing I have ever done, and I am so sorry for the pain it caused you," he said softly, "please understand that I didn't do it because I didn't love you. It wasn't because you weren't enough or something like that. You were perfect to me. I take full responsibility for the fuck-up, and I am so, so horribly fucking sorry!"

"Rafa, it's..." you gulped, the words somehow stuck in your throat. You were having a hard time acting as if his words meant nothing to you.

He carefully put his hand on top of yours before he continued, "do you think we would've been able to work around the long distance if I hadn't...?"

"Please don't..." you whispered and sent him a soft yet warning look, "I don't want to talk about what might've been."

"No, no of course not..." he nodded quietly, "I just - I can't believe it's been three years... Fuck baby I've missed you so bad," he carefully moved his thumb over the back of your hand and searched your face with furrowed eyebrows, "You have no idea of the relief I felt when I finally saw you today," he said quietly.

"Don't do this..." you closed your eyes and whispered.

Rafa continued as if he hadn't heard you, "I know we didn't work out the way neither of us pictured it but that doesn't mean you weren't the best thing that's ever happened to me..." he sounded desperate, and you couldn't look at him. The words he was saying was making you want to fall into his arms, "...I never should've let you go."

"Rafa," you sighed and summoned all your strength and looked into his glossy eyes, "you didn't let me go," your voice barely a whisper, "I broke up with you."

"I know, I know," his voice was oozing with pain, "but I hope you realise that I would've done everything to win you back. I would've come back to California if you'd only asked me to. Fuck the record deal."

"There was a reason why I didn't ask you to come back," you shot him a glance in warning, "you know that."

"Still, I should have done... something."

"You did exactly what I asked of you."

"Yeah... I stayed the fuck away from you," he mumbled. You could tell that he was replaying your last tearful conversation in his mind before he heaved a big gulp of air and glanced over at you with a valiant look in his eyes, "but I've come back to remind you who I really am."

"You don't have to remind me of anything... I remember who you were. What we had."

"Then let me be that guy for you again," he looked at you pleadingly.

"What's the point when you're still 3,000 miles away?" You sighed, "It's not as if we'll happen upon each other at the supermarket and go out for spontaneous coffees."

"Could be," he said with a small shrug, "I - uh - I'm moving back," he nervously ran his fingers through his short hair, "I want to be close to Sofía and the baby - and you."

"You're coming home?" You gulped. You couldn't believe him. Was this a good thing?

"Yes," he breathed, "And I want to try things out with you again. Please give me another chance..." his fingers moved from your hand to your knee. You briefly considered his words while you felt his thumb caress you through the green fabric of your dress. Right now, you were fighting hard to not give in to his embrace and the familiar set of lips in front of you, but you weren't sure how you'd feel about it come morning, so you remained poised.

He sensed your hesitation, however, and carefully put his forehead to yours "come on, baby," he said quietly and softly kissed your cheek, his lips warm against your skin.

"I don't know," you gulped as you involuntarily closed your eyes and breathed him in.

"It's okay," he said with whispered words, the stubble on his chin rough against your cheekbone, "you don't have to give me an answer right away," he gently kissed your jawline while his hand travelled from your kneecap to your fingertips, clearly desperate to remind you of what you could have back if you only agreed to let him in again.

"Rafa, I don't know," you said quietly although it was becoming harder and harder to remain steadfast and ignore his burning lips on your skin.

"Just consider it," he kissed the corner of your mouth, "I'll crawl. I'll beg," he whispered and pursed his lips against yours, "I'll do anything," he moved his body closer to yours, "just consider it," he whispered and placed a particularly gentle kiss to your already buzzing lips, "please baby."

You couldn't help yourself any longer and you involuntarily twitched your lips against his before you felt yourself being completely engulfed by him. The passionate kiss you shared was soft and bittersweet, reminding both of you of what had been.

His hands were caressing your neck and hairline and he hummed into your mouth as he savoured the feeling of finally having you kiss him back. "Fuck I've missed this," he gulped when he broke away and put his forehead to yours, his hand still on your cheek, "does this mean you'll at least consider it?"

"I'm still angry with you," you whispered without really answering his question.

"I know, love..." he caressed your cheek, "I was stupid," he searched your face, "it was a stupid mistake."

"Don't reduce it to a stupid mistake, Rafa," you whispered.

"Poor choice of words," he mumbled, "what I mean to say is that I hope you can forgive it," he placed a soft kiss to your jawline, "- forgive me."

"Even if I did forgive you, how do you expect me to ever trust you again?" You said quietly, and you knew that you couldn't dance around the elephant in the room any longer. "Rafa you had another girl's lips wrapped around your dick not even twenty-four hours after crying in my arms at the airport," you said with a heavy heart and watched him cringe his face at the harsh truth, "twenty-four after you'd sworn you'd do anything to make our relationship work despite the distance."

Rafa was still wincing when he spoke, "not that it's any excuse at all but I was exhausted and drunk and heartbroken," he croaked, "I had just left the love of my life behind in California... and this other girl was suddenly there and she got me high as balls and she-" he sighed without finishing his own sentence, "trust me when I say that it was the worst night of my life," he closed his eyes in a sad attempt at holding the tears at bay.

"Well at least you got a nice blowjob out of it." You smiled humourlessly, "I just wound up with all the lies you threw in my face."

"I never lied to you..." he mumbled, "I came clean as soon as you confronted me."

"How big of you!" you scoffed.

"Baby... I didn't tell you because I was so embarrassed," he gulped, the tears now evident under his green irises, "I wanted to throw myself off a cliff! I knew that if I told you, it would be the definite end of us," he looked at you with huge, bloodshot eyes, "I couldn't do that."

"I need you to understand that the worst part of it wasn't that you cheated on me. The worst part was that you pretended that nothing had happened at all," you couldn't tell whether the tears you felt in the corners of your eyes were from being angry or sad, "Imagine how dumb I felt when Diggs finally broke down and told me what you'd done," you said and Rafa suddenly couldn't hold back the tears any longer either.

"I wanted to tell you. Trust me, I wanted to," he sobbed.

"You had three weeks to say something to me for fuck's sake!"

"I'm so sorry," he whimpered.

"We facetimed every night for three weeks and you didn't say anything! You made a complete fool of me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" his eyes fixed at his own feet.

"Rafa, look at me!" you said in a harsh tone of voice.

Immediately, his red eyes found yours. He looked as ashamed of himself as he possibly could, "I was a coward," he whimpered, "-and I knew didn't deserve you."

"Then what makes you think you deserve me now?" You said coldly.

"I have spent the last three years trying to forget about you and what happened but no matter what I do, you still linger in the back of my mind. Even after all this time you're the only one I can ever see myself with. I always return to you. On sleepless nights, you're dancing on the back of my eyelids. I see you in other girls when I pass them by on the street. You're in all my poetry. All my songs. I think about you constantly. Maybe I don't deserve you but I at least had to try."

"Rafa you broke my heart," you looked him dead in the eye and he visibly gulped, "you betrayed my trust and you did it in the most despicable way I could ever imagine. It's been three years and I still cannot believe that you of all people would do that to me. You were my ride or die."

"I can still be that," he said desperately, clinging on to the last bit of hope he had in him, "I'm still that guy! The guy who cheated on you that wasn't me! I wasn't myself! I'm aware of the agony it caused, and trust me: I've learned from my mistakes," he looked at you resolutely before he whispered, "I'm still your ride or die."

His words made your stomach hurt and you felt the heat rise throughout your body as your throat clenched tightly together. You felt suffocated and stood up from the bench so fast that black spots distorted your vision. "I can't do this!" you said desperately, "it's too much!"

"Okay," he gulped, looking up at you with desperation written across his face.

"I have to go back to the party. Nat expects me to be there for her."

"Alright," he gulped. He was having a hard time concealing his obvious disappointment.

"Don't look at me like that!" you whimpered, "what did you expect? That you could shed a few tears and everything would be alright again?"

"No, of course not..."

"Then don't look so fucking disappointed! You're making me feel like the bad guy and I haven't even done anything!"

"I know," he gulped.

"Yet you still think a drunk conversation erases everything? That I will take you back just because you're feeling sorry? You obviously don't realise the damage you caused."

"Then tell me!" He too stood up from his seat, "I want to make things alright again," he pleaded.

"I don't need you to make things alright again! I was doing just fine before you showed up!"

"Okay, I'm sorry," he sheepishly picked at his own elbow, "I just thought that maybe you felt the same way about me."

"I don't want you back!" You said roughly.

As soon as the harsh words had escaped your lips, you could see the heartbreak on his face; his cheeks paled, his lips quivered, a single tear left his right eye as he looked away. He ran his hand over the corners of his mouth, unable to look directly at you, "right," he said as a fresh set of tears formed in his eyes, "I'm sorry... I - uh - I had to try,” he sobbed although he was fighting to hold his voice steady, “I - uhm - I don't know what to say…”

"Don't say anything..."

"...so this is it?" His eyes found yours, "...for good?"

You nodded slowly but didn't say anything.

You watched how he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly without any words escaping him. He looked flustered, panicked almost when you turned around and stepped away from him. You could hear him panic-shift around behind you but he still didn't talk. He had probably expected you to take him back with open arms - anything but this!

Good. He deserved to fry a little.

And maybe you'd call him tomorrow. Just maybe.

[inmyownlaine]

Hi,love your writing and was wondering if I could request a John Murphy fluff/angst based on season 2or3 where the reader and him get in an argument about him ‘being with Emori’ but he likes the reader?

John Murphy x Reader: Promises

*Absolutely! Thank you for the suggestion. Also, let's just act like I haven't been MIA for literal months :)

GIF//

Warnings: None to my knowledge!

Word Count: 2078

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“Don’t go,” you begged, grabbing Murphy’s hand as it swung carelessly behind him. When your fingers touched his skin, Murphy stopped immediately. He inhaled heavily through his nose, trying to control the sadness and desire that you sent rippling through his body.

“Murphy, please,” you whimpered.

Murphy’s shoulder dropped as he let the single strap of his backpack slide down his arm. Your eyes lit up, hoping that was a positive sign. Hoping that you were enough to make him stay.

“I can’t.”

“You can,” you said assertively. “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” he replied, apologetic eyes looking at you between half-closed eyelids. He was right. You didn’t understand. He had nothing to apologize for. He didn’t have to prove himself to you. Or ask for your forgiveness. None of the things that his blue eyes seemed to convey.

“You don’t need redemption.”

“But if I go now, maybe when I come back-”

“What?” you interrupted. “Everything will suddenly be different?”

“Is it so wrong to want that?” he questioned softly, a shaky sigh leaving his body. You tightened your grip, white knuckles against red calloused ones. Just another casualty of his bad temper.

“Of course not. But you’re not going to fix anything by leaving. You need to stay. Stay and show them who you can be. Don’t leave and prove them right.”

Murphy dropped his head, fixated on your two hands intertwined. There was a lot more going on than the surface discussion. You danced around being in love by using double meanings and knowing glances. This wasn’t about him leaving to find himself. It was about him leaving you.

Glassy eyes meet together in a flurry of uncertainty and passion. The pit of your stomach churned as Murphy leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on your lips. They barely touched before he pulled away, eyes closed. It was a kiss that you never wanted to experience, especially being your first.

You knew he was leaving.

“Don’t cry,” he told you, hearing a sniffle escape. His eyes still rested, he quietly spoke, “I will be back. I promise. I have something to come back to.”

“Murphy, I-”

“I promise.” He now faced the reality of the situation, confronting his fears head on as he stared into your bloodshot eyes. There was no way he would ever be the cause of this again. He just needed one chance to make you proud. To clear his name.

“I promise.”

────────────────────────────────────────────

The taste of dirt and sweat caused you to gag as you were manhandled into the unknown. You had no idea why you were the target of a kidnapping. If anything, you laid low and kept to yourself. Regardless, you followed the directions given to you, fearing what would become of your life if you didn’t.

“I’ve brought you some company!” the voice behind you bellowed. You jumped at the sudden noise, interested in the way he practically sang the announcement.

“Who?” another voice asked, seeming alert and slightly panicked. You knew this voice anywhere and it quickly became clear why you were here. Even still, you obeyed the commands given. If you spoke a word, made any noise, it would be the end of your life.

“Worried, are we?” The man started to laugh heartily as you continued to walk. Every thundering step matched the beating of your heart. What would happen when you finally stopped?

There was no response, so the man began to speak. “Someone who wouldn’t shut up about you. Scared for you. Desperate to see you.”

As if being captured weren’t enough, this was just plain humiliating. He didn’t have to recount all the times you pined after Murphy while he was gone. You lost track of the months it had been since you last saw him. This was not how you wanted to reunite.

“Who. Is. It?” Murphy asked yet again. It was dark and menacing. A resemblance of a person that he used to be. You knew that would always be a part of him. Especially when it involved people that he cared about.

“A girlfriend?” the man guessed. You cringed hearing that word, tormenting and taunting you of what never was. But how Murphy replied was even more heartbreaking.

“Emori?” The man began to cackle once more as Murphy cursed and threatened his life. It was terrible to hear the intensity of his love. How much he cared for someone else while you turned others down, waiting for him.

The man gave you one last shove, causing you to fall to your knees. Through minute gaps in the woven sack over your head, you finally caught an amber hue of light. You groaned in pain, trying your best to stay upright with your hands tied behind your back.

There was a brief moment of silence before another outburst broke out. This time, you heard the scuffling of feet against the floor. Fabric harshly rubbed against a scratchy surface. It sounded like an attempt to escape.

“Let her go!” Murphy yelled.

“Why would I do that? I have everything I need, now. Except for the information.”

“Just let her go and I’ll tell you, okay? I’ll tell you everything,” Murphy frantically said.

“But I’m having so much fun. Maybe just one...little…” A cold blade touched your neck, causing a shriek to escape your throat. He put an ounce of pressure against your rapidly thumping artery.

“I swear to God if you hurt her I will kill you!” Murphy’s voice was full of anguish as it broke here and there. It was a frequency in which you had never heard from him. It was harrowing to witness.

The knife was removed from your neck. In a series of exchanges, Murphy gave him the answer to every single question he asked. When the interrogation was over, you were picked up and moved to a new area. Here, you were tied once more around my stomach.

Then, without warning, the bag was removed from your head. You could barely take in my surroundings before Murphy called your name. Tears fell from your eyes as you saw, for the first time in months, John Murphy. Though you had to admit, he looked worse for wear.

“Murphy,” you cried back, wanting more than anything to be able to touch him. To hug him. To take in his scent. You had been without this man for way too long.

“That’s sweet,” the man, who you could now identify as Titus, interrupted. “But I’ve got what I wanted. For now.” And with that, he turned on his heel and exited the room, leaving you and Murphy alone.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Murphy asked immediately.

“I’m fine,” you replied. “But you don’t look good at all.”

“Yeah, well, being tortured does that to a person.”

“He tortured you?” you questioned, breath leaving your body. Picturing someone hurting Murphy made you sick.

“A few times,” he shrugged.

You wanted to be happy. You wanted to ask him about his trip. You wanted to know if he discovered himself. If he found who he truly was. But you couldn’t get past the fact that he said another girl’s name.

You never claimed to be anything more than friends, but you thought it went without saying. A person doesn’t just kiss someone before they leave. Or promise that they would come back to you.

“I hate that I have to see you like this,” Murphy finally said, breaking the silence. “I always imagined coming back to camp with Jaha’s group. We just saved the human race, or something like that. But it didn’t matter, because I was looking for you.”

“Not Emori?” you mumbled, mustering up the courage to be so bold. Murphy’s eyes grew wide as he avoided your haunting gaze.

“Look, it wasn’t supposed to- she just- we were,” he tried to explain, slumping over in the process.

“I waited for you. Every day,” you admitted. “The last thing I did before I went to bed was look out the gate for you. Every morning I woke up with the hope that it would be the day you came back to me.”

You started to sob, recounting the loneliness that you felt. And the fear of not knowing Murphy’s fate. Were you holding out for someone who was dead? Was it hopeless to wish that he would keep his promise?

“I turned people down. I kept faith in you. I told everyone how proud I was. And then to know that you weren’t keeping me with you at all. I wasn’t even a passing thought.”

“It’s not like that,” Murphy said.

“But it is. She’s your girlfriend.”

“I don’t- love her,” he said softly, swallowing hard enough to make his entire throat bob up and down.

“Then what?” You were at the tipping point with Murphy. Exasperated with his short answers and frustrated with the secrets he was holding. If he wouldn’t be honest with you now, there was no way you would ever be with him in the future.

“I’ve been through a lot. More than I expected.” He stared into the distance, seemingly void of emotion. It was like he was lost, trying hard to remember something that he pushed away. “I was trapped. By myself. 86 days. You know how I spent that time?”

You shook your head in response. He was still burning holes in the wall, but somehow knew that you replied. He smirked slightly before saying, “I thought about you. And how good it would feel to see you once I was out. Granted, I went absolutely crazy in there, but you kept me as sane as I could be.”

You couldn’t help but to chuckle at this. “I can’t imagine you any more psychotic than you are now.”

“Is that so?” he bantered, catching you out of the corner of his eye.

“You’re a freak,” you teased.

“Why? Because I’ve killed a few people?”

“Yeah, that probably contributes.” The two of you shared a smile, falling back into old patterns. You missed having a person that you could shamelessly be yourself around. The quick wit and sly comments were always absorbed and thrown back by Murphy. No one else stood a chance against you.

“When he said he had someone,” Murphy carried on, “you’re the first person I thought of. But it seemed impossible until I saw you. I don’t know what came over me. I- I was blind with rage. I tried to fight my way out. Because if he hurt you-”

Murphy couldn’t bear to finish the sentence. You didn’t need him to. You knew what was left to say. You heard the distinct difference, the silence that fell, when he realized you were the captured person and not Emori.

“I know that doesn’t make any of this right, but I just wanted that feeling of safety that you gave me. And Emori was there. I misplaced it. And I’m sorry,” Murphy apologized.

“What about Emori, then?” you pressed.

“She’s a good person, and she will understand. I just couldn’t live with myself if I left you again.”

“You mean that?” Murphy simply nodded, outstretching his fingers in your direction. Even though you couldn’t hold hands, the sentiment remained as you reflected his actions. You were two people trying to make your own light in the darkest of situations.

“I love you,” you managed to choke out, taking in the dried blood on his hairline and the bruises on his skin. His pant leg was ripped at the cuff and his hands were caked in dirt. You needed him to know that no matter what happened, now and forever, that he could carry this with him. Even after death, if fate so decided.

“I love you, too,” he said, without hesitation or a second thought. It was something he wished he had told you the night he decided to leave. The only thing he regretted once he left the compound.

But he had the chance to fix all of that. And in that moment, he swore that once you escaped, he would always be there to protect you. He would always console you and your wondering thoughts. He would love you the way that he should have a long time ago.

He promised he would always find a way to come back to you.

He promised he would never leave.

He promised.

**Hey, it's Lainey. Slightly embarrassing but I am back from the grave! I hope you all enjoy this and still love Murphy as much as I do <3

[dracowars]

the right thing | draco malfoy

pairing: draco x slytherin!reader

word count: 3,0k

summary: where y/n does the only right thing, much to the dismay of everyone else

a/n: i had this idea in mind for so long and finally managed to bring it to life, enjoy <3

warnings: angst, mentions of death, mentions of childbirth, torture, mentions of blood

universe: harry potter

"Darling, are you listening to me?", your father's voice tears you out of your dreamy, peaceful thoughts and you silently direct your gaze from the nature outside, which is quickly passing by, to him. As an answer you nod, even though you were definitely not listening a bit.

"Very good! I am so incredibly proud of my grown up daughter", he smiles at you and takes off the glasses he used to read out what is written on the parchment in his hand to you when you were not listening.

You do not answer or show a reaction, causing your father to clear his throat nervously before looking down while you switch your own gaze back out of the moving carriage.

As much as you would like to believe what he is saying, you can't. This man has ruined your entire life and is now only trying to make up for it with his stupid niceness and courtesy. Just like he always has, knowing that you will never forgive him for what he did.

The sudden waggling of the carriage makes you assume that you have arrived and at that very moment you recognize the large creaking gate that leads into a wide avenue to a huge mansion. The Malfoy Manor.

Your pureblood family has been very influential for generations, just like the Malfoys, so it not really surprising that you and Draco immediately befriended each other in your first year at Hogwarts. A friendship that soon became more than that.

What you did not expect, however, is that you would get engaged to each other just as quickly.

Your parents wasted no time after learning about your relationship. After all, it would mean the continuation of the purity of your families as well as the union of two of the most influential families in the whole wizarding world. And it was clear for both of you that you were lucky to have met, because otherwise you would probably have married someone you would not have loved with your whole heart.

And yet, you are not happy.

The creaking of the carriage door opening by magic, makes you flinch before you follow your father out and are now standing in front of the huge building you have already visited several times. One of the house elves leads you to the large front door and another leads you through the halls of Malfoy Manor, past the numerous locked doors and through sparsely furnished corridors.

As soon as you arrive in the long, dark dining room, your breath gets stuck in your throat when you look over your father's shoulder, only to see many faces that you would not have expected to see here. Especially not the face of a specific someone since you originally assumed that you would only gather here to discuss more wedding preparations.

"Oh, how nice! The Y/L/N family has finally made it", the Dark Lord grins devilishly, locking his cold eyes with you, and your father bows respectfully before you two sit down at the wooden table, directly across from Draco and his parents. He throws you an unsettling glance and your pulse rises immediately.

"Very well. Now that we are complete, let us begin", Voldemort speaks up treacherously while strutting around the end of the table, his wand openly displayed in his pale, bony hands.

If there is one wizard in this entire universe that you can't stand, it is definitely him, even though you are a Death Eater and thus belong to his close entourage.

But you never had a choice.

Your mother died during childbirth, but your father had already foreseen it and did not want it to come true. In order to prevent this, he ran to Voldemort and his people to beg for help. He so gladly granted him his wish, but only on the condition that his only daughter and heir to the wealthy Y/L/N family will become a Death Eater at the age of sixteen. And so it happened.

Of course he was not able to rescue your mother from death, but you are not sure whether you would be sitting here at this table right now without his help or if you would not have survived the birth either. Whatever it is, you do not know what you would have preferred.

All in all, you harbor an abysmally hatred for this man as well as for your own father, who simply sold his daughter to the evil in person. For nothing but an empty promise.

In your eyes this man is not and never will be your father. To you, he is nothing more than a ridiculous, old and bitter coward.

You hear Voldemort keep talking in the background, but his words do not go inside of your head and you just emotionlessly stare at Draco on the other side, who switches his intimidated gaze between you and the other end of the table. Only when you follow his gaze do you understand why he has this kind of an expression plastered all over his face.

At the other end, across from the position where Voldemort is currently making his hate speech against Harry Potter, a terrible looking woman hangs upside down from the ceiling, softly whimpering. Floating in the air by a spell, she moves around a bit and if it were not for her making quiet noises, you would have thought she was dead.

But when her empty gaze meets yours, an ice-cold shiver runs down your spine. It is Mrs. Burbage, your Muggle Studies teacher. You almost did not recognize her because of her distorted appearance. Her pale, lifeless face, however, seems to be staring at you, almost piercing through you, making you feel like it is your fault that she is hanging there.

You quickly turn away from her and look down at the empty table, which suddenly seems much more interesting than anything else in the room while you try not to let the deep, ingrained shock show. Taking in a deep breath, you only lift your head up again when a silver snake's head is thrown on the table, frightening you for a second.

Apparently Voldemort has just damaged Lucius Malfoy's wand in order to use it himself. The look on Lucius' face makes you shudder again. You have never seen him like this before and you have had to spend a lot of time with him and the other Death Eaters already.

Just as shocked as you are, Draco is as well while looking to his father. Draco, like you, never wanted to become a Death Eater, but his father's failures eventually forced him into this position and now you are both bound to the same horrible fate, caused by your own fathers.

While Voldemort continues to drag their family name into the dirt with his words, you and Draco just look at each other intensely. As if you could understand what is going on in the others' mind.

At least until a green spark flies across the table in the middle of you two and Nagini snakes over it shortly afterwards. Unnoticed, you move your chair back a litte. Already suspecting what is going to happen, you turn your head away and try to block out the disgusting and disturbing noises that are triggered by killing one of your favorite teachers.

In the end, however, you are unable to take it any longer, getting up and running out of the room with your head and shoulders lowered, but you can still hear how the Dark Lord declares the meeting finished as you run down the stairs. Holding your hand in front of your mouth, your insides make a flip and you feel incredibly sick all of a sudden when you come to a stop in one of the hallways.

Startled you turn around when you hear your name behind you, but as soon as you recognize that it is Draco who followed you, you crash into his arms and he catches you, protectively holding you against him.

"D-Draco", you bitterly sob into his chest and he just hugs you tighter, trying to calm you down.

"Shh, love. I know, I know", he silences you softly and puts his hand on the back of your head while you remain in this position for a few minutes. Until you hear your father's annoying voice.

Moving away from Draco and straightening your posture, you look in the direction from where your father is now running towards you, Narcissa closely behind him.

"Darling, there you are! I will go back home now and you will have a nice time here", he happily announces, not even noticing how miserable you are. But what else did you expect from him?

"We will take good care of her, don't worry", Narcissa smiles, but it does not quite reach her eyes and therefore stays cold. Your father seems satisfied by her answer and, together with all the other Death Eaters, leaves.

"I will make us some tea", Narcissa clears her throat and you follow her into the salon, your hands intertwined.

A few days later Draco and you comfortably lay on the couch in front of the big fireplace in the afternoon, an open book about potions in your lap, your head leaned against his broad shoulder. As you continue to rummage through your book, Draco gently takes your hand in his and smiles down at you before placing a kiss on the top of your head.

Your little moment of peace and contentment, however, is quickly destroyed again when Bellatrix's crazy laugh echoes through the room.

"Draco, Y/N, my darlings! I searched for you everywhere", she giggles as she strolls towards you, pressing her wand against her temple as she stops in front of the sofa. You expectantly look up at her, waiting for her to explain why she so rudely interrupted your moment.

"Bellatrix! What is going on here?", Lucius suddenly rushes in after her, Narcissa following him, so that you are all gathered now.

"Oh! I assume you have already met our lovely guests", Bellatrix laughs and, as if on cue, two more men enter the living room. Death Eaters. Deeply breathing in shock, you abruptly get onto your feet when you discover that they did not come alone.

Hermione, Ron and someone who somehow looks like Harry Potter but isn't, are pushed ahead of them until they are ungently thrown to the ground, right in front of Bellatrix's feet.

"Welcome, welcome", she licks her lips bloodthirstily, a playful laugh escaping her throat as your gaze meets Hermione's. There is nothing but disappointment in her eyes. Disappointed that you do not step in, that you just watch.

You avert your gaze and look at the other person and the longer you look at him, the more it becomes clear to you that this is Harry Potter after all. Terrible things have been done to his face that made you barely recognize him.

"Why are they here?", you choke out and Bellatrix turns to you in amusement, giggling while mockingly sulking as she presses her knife against Harry's throat.

"Why not? Well, Draco! Why don't you come over here and and take a closer look", she urges Draco and he slowly loosens his grip on your hand, not even realizing how hard you have squeezed his. He cautiously walks towards his aunt, even though you would like to stop him immediately.

"Come closer. What does he look like to you, huh?", she asks him and Draco stops right in front of them.

He hesitates.

Lucius suddenly stirs next to you and puts his hand on Draco's back, whispering something into his ear which you can't hear before he raises his voice out of nowhere when one of the Death Eaters intervenes. Narcissa manages to calm Lucius down though and pull him away from their son.

"Don't be shy, sweetie. Come over", Bellatrix persuades him and takes his hand to pull him closer to the disfigured Harry, giving him a better view. You can clearly see the fear in Harry's eye that is not swollen, and something deep inside of you keeps telling you that it would not be right to betray him. You are about to step in when Draco mutters under his breath for the first time since they entered the room, kneeling down in front of Harry.

"What is wrong with his face?"

"Yes, what is wrong with his face?", Bellatrix counters and adresses the two men, but you automatically block out their conversation, only being able to concentrate on Harry and Draco. Draco examines his face closely, but you are sure that he too immediately recognized that it is actually Harry. However, he gets up with a shake of his head and remains silent.

You just do not understand why he does not say anything.

Maybe he never wanted to become a Death Eater either, but still, you always had different views on Harry Potter and his Gryffindor friends. He loathed them since first year, and yet he does not betray him now.

The sudden screeching by Bellatrix and the following fighting noises release you from your numbness and you only see how she orders the now injured men to disappear, a silver sword in her hand that was not there before.

"Put the boys in the cell! I will have a conversation with this one", she angrily growls and pushes Harry and Ron to Narcissa and Wormtail, who take them to the basement. "Get out!"

Not being able to move from the spot, you stop and do not obey her instructions, making her give you an aggressive look until Draco quickly grabs your wrist and roughly pulls you away from the scene, Hermione now alone with Bellatrix.

You have just left the room when you hear a terrible scream from behind you and there is no doubt that it came from Hermione.

"What is she doing to her, Draco?", you furiously ask him and pull your hand out of his strong grip, a little too strong for your liking.

"I don't know. Let us go upstairs and-"

"No!", you interrupt him angrily and his eyes widen at your sudden outburst, not expecting it.

"No?"

"I am not just going to look away when someone is tortured!", you yell at him and immediately turn around to go back, but Draco stops you.

"You can't do anything for her, Y/N! It is the best idea if we just stay quiet and let it happen. I can't risk them harming you as well", he explains and his voice softens towards the end, almost gets vulnerable, which is why the tension in your body slowly fades.

"But Draco.. This is Harry Potter and if your aunt finds out about it, he is doomed!", you sadly whisper and place your hands on his chest, fists clenched.

"Do you think I do not know? I do not want them to get him either, but we have no choice if we want to stay safe, my love", Draco sighs and lowers his head in defeat, his left hand clasping and loosening your fist, the cold rings on his finger slightly touching your skin. "Promise me that you will stay safe here with me."

"I-I.. I promise", you nod and avert your gaze, unable to look in his eyes while uttering such a lie. However, Draco has no chance to say anything about it when in the next moment a loud clink shakes the walls of the mansion.

Throwing a shocked look at each other, you quickly return to the room and abruptly stop in the middle when you see Narcissa defending attacks by Harry and Ron. Lucius growls behind you and you see him laying on the glass table that probably was destroyed by the impact of his body hitting against it. You are about to pull out your wand when Bellatrix loudly yells.

"STOP!"

Everyone's gaze falls on the knife she is holding against Hermione's throat and you discover a bleeding wound on her forearm, the word 'mudblood' cut deeply into her skin. Bellatrix's work.

"Drop your wands!", she orders and shortly afterwards they fall to the ground. "Pick them up, Draco!"

With you by the hand, Draco quickly picks up their wands and leads you back to his parents, his body blocking you protectively as he stands in front of you.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. It's Harry Potter", Bellatrix whisper-yells into Hermione's ear, who is trying to suppress her sobs while Harry's face is suddenly turning back to normal. "Just in time for the Dark Lord.. Call him!"

The last command coming from her mouth makes you swallow hard, but the lump in your throat won't go away. Especially not when all eyes are on you and Draco alone now. Their faces soaked in expectation and disappointment, it only intensifies the conflict within you.

"Call him!"

Releasing you from your suffering, Lucius steps forward when neither Draco nor you stir a single bit, pulls up his sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark on his forearm, the same one that painfully adorns your skin as well and always reminds you of who you have to obey. You see how the snake slowly winds around the skull and you look back and forth between him and Hermione, trembling.

"I am sorry, Draco", you breathe out barely audible, closing your eyes while doing so before letting go of his hand.

In a matter of seconds, you raise your wand, aim at the magnificent chandelier on the ceiling that is directly above Bellatrix and Hermione, and the following words fall off your lips with sudden ease.

"Confringo!"

All at once everything that happens next is like in slow motion. The huge chandelier crashes down onto the parquet, freeing Hermione from Bellatrix's grip and you are thrown to the ground as well. Raising your blurry gaze again, you see feet right in front of you and are suddenly pulled up onto your legs again.

By no other than Harry.

He brings you to the others and the last thing you see is the hurt, disappointment and heartbreak on Draco's pale face as you feel a stabbing, sharp pain from both your own broken heart and the dagger piercing through your skin that was thrown by Bellatrix before you vanish into thin air.